j^'^-    ^>t.^i^^,  ^  "-^t^^: 


/ 


^  PRINCETON,  N.  J.  *ijj 

Presented   by  \^<S.^  .(0\r''\\^\^'<r  Vb-V-Va  . 
BV    4531    .H5    1864 
The   higher   rock 


€f)e  Borfe. 


He  set  my  feet  upon  a  rock.  Ps.  xl.,  2. 


THE 


9f 

HIGHER   ROCK. 


^ 


Lead  me  to  the  Rock  that  is  higher  than  I. 

Psalm  Ixi.  2. 


PHILADELPHIA: 
AMERICAN  SUNDAY-SCHOOL  UNION, 

No.  1122  Chestnut  Street. 


NEW  YORK :  599  BROADWAY. 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1864,  by  the 

AMERICAN   SUNDAY-SCHOOL  UNION, 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States  for  the  Eastern 
District  of  Pennsylvania. 


INTRODUCTION. 


Through  the  courtesy  of  the  Publishing  Com- 
mittee of  the  American  Sunday-School  Union,  I 
have  had  an  opportunity  of  looking  over  the 
sheets  of  the  following  work  in  advance  of  its 
publication.  It  is  their  wash  that  I  should  say 
what  I  think  of  it.  If  I  do  this,  I  must  say, 
first  of  all,  that  it  is,  in  my  opinion,  a  work  which 
stands  in  no  need  of  an  endorsement  from  any 
quarter. 

Without  adverting  to  the  lucid  and  vigorous 
style  in  which  it  is  written,  it  is  remarkable  for 
several  characteristics  which  cannot  fail  to  arrest 
the  attention  of  the  thoughtful  reader.  Among 
these,  not  the  least  conspicuous  is  its  compre- 
hensiveness.    I   can   recall   no   book  oT  moderate 


4  INTRODUCTION. 

size  in  which  a  greater  number  of  important 
topics  pertaining  to  personal  rehgion  are  dis- 
cussed. The  wide  range  of  subjects  lying  be- 
tween such  fundamental  questions  as  these,  "  Is 
there  a  God?"  "What  am  I?"  "Why  am  I 
placed  in  this  world?"  and  the  sublime  con- 
summation of  the  Christian  life,  here  pass  in 
review  before  the  reader.  He  wdll  find  in  these 
pages  just  that  kind  of  information  respecting  the 
Bible,  the  necessity  of  a  revelation,  its  evidences, 
the  Canon  of  Scripture  and  its  paramount  au- 
thority, which  every  reflecting  person  desires  to 
have.  The  true  ends  of  life,  the  nature  of  real 
religion,  and  the  reasonableness  of  its  claims, 
with  the  perplexities  and  dangers,  the  duties  and 
privileges,  of  the  believer,  are  considered  in  a  w^ay 
which  cannot  fail  to  impress  the  candid  mind. 

For  this  book  is  not  more  remarkable  for  the 
extent  and  variety  of  its  topics,  than  for  the  ability 
with  which  they  are  discussed.  In  the  first 
sentence  of  the  first  chapter  we  have  a  key  to 
the  peculiai*  style  in  which  the  author  conducts 


INTRODUCTION. 


his  argument : — "  It  lias  been  my  privilege  to  be 
engaged  for    nearly  fifty  years    in   the   religious 
instruction  of  young  persons  in  Sunday-schools, 
and  for  nearly  three-fourths  of  that  time  to  have 
charge    of   one    or   two    Aveekly  Bible-classes  of 
young  ladies."     Precisely  so.     It   required  just 
such  a  training  in  order  to  write  "  The  Rock."  No 
vigour   of  intellect,    no    amount  of  learning,    no 
ordinary   pastoral   experience    even,    could   have 
quahfied  a  man  to  write  this  book.     It  could  have 
come    only  from   the  pen  of  one  who,  endowed 
with  ample  intellectual  and  moral  gifts,  had  spent 
a  score  or  two  of  years  in  the  faithful  rehgious 
instruction  of  intelligent  young  persons,  carefully 
observing    their    various    tempers    and    tempera- 
ments, noting  the  effects  of  different  modes  of 
domestic   training,   watching   the   diversified   im- 
pressions produced  upon  them  by  the  imperative 
demands  of  Scripture,  analyzing   their  skeptical 
doubts,  recording   their    cavils  and  their  subter- 
fuges, and    employing   the   resources  of  a   well- 
furnished  mind  in  removing  their  difficulties  and 


6  INTRODUCTION. 

pressing  home  the  truth  upon  their  consciences. 
■Regarded  in  this  view,  I  am  quite  sure  that  the 
book  will  be  found  a  useful  study,  not  merely  to 
these  for  whom  it  was  specially  written,  but  to 
teachers  and  pastors  also.  It  were  well  if  we 
could  all  command  the  skill  in  casuistic  morality, 
which  is  displayed  in  these  pages. 

To  describe  this  feature  of  "  The  Eock"  in  a 
single  sentence,  I  should  say  that  it  has  a  reality 
about  it,  which  constitutes  its  highest  value.  The 
late  venerable  Dr.  Archibald  Alexander,  of 
Princeton,  was  accustomed  to  say  that  he  pre- 
ferred "Jenks'  Prayers"  to  any  other  collection 
of  the  kind,  because  they  were  evidently  '^'prayers 
which  had  been  prayed!'  So  with  this  book.  The 
personages  introduced  are  real.  The  conver- 
sations actually  took  place.  The  doubts  and  fears, 
the  cavils  and  complaints,  were  all  expressed. 
One  of  the  most  touching  narratives  presented 
here  (pages  124-131)  recalls  to  my  recollection 
a  young  friend  whose  death  was  mourned  with  a 
true  sorrow  by  many  hearts.    The  author  has  said 


INTRODUCTION.  7 

very  little,  where  he  might  have  said  much,  ahout 
her  personal  charms  and  her  rare  intellectual 
gifts.  Nature  and  grace  conspired  to  form  her  to 
a  mould  of  singular  excellence  and  loveHness. 
And  during  the  long  months  of  fluctuating  health 
which  preceded  her  summons  home,  she  was 
manifestly  ripening  for  her  change.  No  one 
could  doubt  that  she  passed  from  her  cross  of 
suffering  to  her  crown. 

Perhaps  too  httle  notice  is  taken,  in  most  ser- 
mons and  religious  books,  of  the  skeptical  mis- 
givings and  complaints  of  earnest  minds.  There 
are  many  persons,  many  young  persons  even, 
whose  bosoms  are  filled  with  murmurs, 

"  Unutter'd  or  express'd/^ 

against  the  Deity.  They  feel  that  their  lot  is  a 
hard  one;  that  the  Creator  ought  not  to  have 
placed  them  in  such  a  world  with  such  a  nature ; 
and  that  if  they  perish,  it  will  not  be  their  fault. 
These  persons  have  not  been  forgotten  by  the 
author.     The  candour  and  ability  with  which  he 


8  INTRODUCTION. 

lias  considered  theii  difficulties  will  commend  to 
them  liis  wise  and  faithful  counsels. 

Again,  young  Christians  are  frequently  per- 
plexed with  questions  of  duty  respecting  books, 
amusements,  methods  of  doing  good,  and  other 
practical  matters.  The  author's  knowledge  of 
the  world,  and  large  experience,  have  made  him  a 
competent  teacher  on  these  points,  and  they  will 
have  reason  to  thank  him  for  his  suggestions. 

But  it  is  not  necessary  to  extend  this  Intro- 
duction. If  this  book  is  read  in  the  spirit 
in  which  it  has  been  written,  it  cannot  fail,  by 
God's  blessing,  to  lead  many  persons  to  the 
"  Hock  ;"  and  thus  it  will  have  accomplished  its 
mission. 

H.  A.  B.foa,rii>»i4.hj 


THE  ROCK!  THE  ROCK! 


We  have  an  authentic  account  of  a  person  who  was 
afflicted  with  a  very  singular  cahamity.  In  the  midst 
of  apparent  health,  activity  and  cheerfulness,  he  would 
suddenly  lose  all  consciousness  and  fall  like  one  dead. 
In  the  paroxysm  which  ensued,  he  would  often  reach 
out  his  arms  convulsively,  as  if  feeling  for  something 
which  he  could  not  see.  As^soon  as  the  spasm  had 
passed,  his  eyes  were  opened  slowly  and  fixed  intently 
on  the  ceiling,  as  if  he  would  pierce  it  and  the  sky  be- 
yond it.  When  consciousness  was  fully  restored,  he 
would  always  ask  to  have  the  sixty-first  Psalm  read  to 

him: — 

"Hear  my  cry,  0  God;  attend  unto  my  prayer: 
From  the  end  of  the  earth  I  will  cry  unto  thee. 
When  my  heart  is  overwhelmed, 
Lead  me  to  the  Eock  that  is  higher  than  1." 

''Stop  there!  stop  there!"  he  would  exclaim,  and 
then,  clasping  his  hands,  repeat,  with  solemn  earnest-^ 
ness, — 

"  Lead  me  to  the  Kock  that  is  higher  than  I." 


10  THE  rock!    the  rock! 

''When  a  favourable  opportunity  occurred/'  says  an 
intimate  friend,  "  I  drew  from  him  the  following  brief 
story. 

''It  was  his  privilege  to  have  the  example  and  teach- 
ings of  a  godly  mother,  who  used  to  make  him  read  to 
her,  every  morning,  from  the  Bible ;  and  she  was  ac- 
customed to  select,  from  the  passage  read,  one  verse,  to 
be  his  motto  for  the  day.  He  was  naturally  very  pas- 
sionate, and  one  morning  was  betrayed  into  a  violent 
fit  of  temper.  His  mother  called  him,  and  he  very  sul- 
lenly obeyed,  when  she  took  his  two  little  hands  in 
hers,  and  with  inexpressible  tenderness  and  affection 
said, — 

"  '  My  dear  son,  this  is^^our  text  for  the  day  : — "  Lead 
me  to  the  Eock  that  is  higher  than  I."  You  have 
been  very  wicked  in  the  indulgence  of  such  a  temper. 
You  have  grieved  me,  and  (what  is  much  worse)  you 
have  sinned  against  God,  who  has  kindly  given  you  all 
you  enjoy.  You  know  you  always  feel  sorry  after 
these  wicked  fits  of  ill  temper,  and  you  have  often  pro- 
mised to  amend,  but  you  have  as  often  failed  to  do  so. 
It  is  high  time  you  were  convinced  that  your  unaided 
efforts  will  not  avail,  and  you  well  know  there  is  one 
who  will  give  you  all  the  help  you  need.  Jesus,  who 
was  once  a  child  like  yourself,  was  tempted  as  you  are; 
but  he  did  not  sin,  and  he  is  able  to  succour  all  who  are 
tempted.     He  is  the  Pvock  spoken  of  in  your  daily  text, 


THE  rock!    the  rock!  11 

And  now,  whenever  you  feel  these  sinful  tempers  rising 
in  your  hearty  let  that  short  prayer  fill  your  heart  and 
go  up  from  honest  lips: — ''Lead  me  to  the  Rock  that 
is  higher  than  I."  Never  ^est  till  you  feel  yourself 
firmly  fastened  there. 

^'  They  then  kneeled  together,  her  arm  clasping  his 
waist,  and  with  great  fervour  she  commended  him  to 
God's  grace  and  protection.  Her  words,  and  even  the 
tones  of  her  voice,  were  indelibly  impressed  on  his 
memory. 

^'^  Not  long  afterwards  his  mother  died ;  and  so  strongly 
was  his  perverse  will  allied  to  a  licentious  world  that  he 
again  indulged  in  folly  and  sin  ;  but  when  sober  sense 
and  reason  were  ail-but  discarded  and  the  faithful 
voice  of  conscience  ail-but  silenced,  these  very  words, 
^Lead  me  to  the  Pvock  that  is  higher  than  I,'  rushed 
upon  his  memory  and  revived  a  sense  of  his  guilt  and 
infatuation.  At  length  they  became  as  the  hand- 
writing upon  the  palace-wall;  and  when  temptation  as- 
sailed him,  the  remembrance  of  them,  instead  of  calming 
and  soothing  his  perturbed  and  desponding  spirit,  filled 
him  with  inexpressible  terror  and  awe.  The  thought 
that  he  had  hardened  his  heart  against  the  tender 
remonstrances  of  his  blessed  mother  and  refused  to 
submit  himself  to  the  guidance  of  his  heavenly  Friend 
overwhelmed  him  with  pungent  sorrow,  which  the 
Spirit  of  God  ripened   into  true  penitence.     He  con- 


12  THE  rock!    the  rock! 

secrated  himself  to  the  service  of  his  gracious  Ee- 
deemer ;  but  his  conflicts  with  the  tempter  were  at  times 
terrific,  subjecting  his  bodily  frame  to  a  severe  shock; 
and  when  the  fearful  struggle  came  upon  him,  as  it 
did  at  intervals  in  the  way  described,  and  completely 
prostrated  his  nervous  system,  he  instinctively  reached 
forth  to  lay  hold  of  '  the  higher  Eock,'  where,  and 
where  only,  he  found  safety  and  peace." 

It  is  the  humble  hope  of  persuading  some  vexed  and 
troubled  soul  to  feel  for  that  Eock  until  it  is  found, 
that  prompts  the  preparation  of  this  volume. 


CHAPTER  I. 

What  Christianity  is — Relations  of  every  human  being  to  this 
world  and  the  next — The  Bible:  lo hence  is  it,  and  what  is  its 
authority^ — Epitome  of  its  doctrines — As  a  rule  of  faith — Is  it 
reliable  f — General  proofs — What  ends  it  answers — Its  pecu- 
liarities— Moral  qualifications  needful  injudgi7ig  of  its  claims  to 
our  faith. 

It  has  been  my  privilege  to  be  engaged  for 
nearly  fifty  years  in  the  religious  instruction  of 
young  persons  in  Sunday-schools ;  and  for  nearly 
three-fourths  of  that  time  to  have  charge  of  one  or 
two  weekly  Bible-classes  of  young  ladies.  These 
opportunities  to  become  acquainted  with  the 
modes  of  thinking,  or  the  reasons  for  not  think- 
ing, on  religious  subjects,  which  prevail  in  such 
circles,  have  been  very  favourable.  The  educated, 
refined  and  intelhgent,  the  daughters  of  luxury, 
affluence  and  fashion,  have  been  among  my  most 
interesting  and  (not  unfrequently)  my  most  trac- 

2  13 


]4  PLEASANT   ASSOCIATIONS. 

table  pupils.  And,  on  the  other  hand,  there  are 
feAV,  if  any,  more  degraded  and  hopeless  in  moral 
or  social  condition  than  many  hundreds  of  those 
to  whom  I  have  attempted  to  impart  an  element- 
ary knowledge  of  revealed  truth. 

Between  these  extremes  of  external  condition 
I  have  found,  of  course,  a  large  variety  of  habits, 
capacities,  dispositions  and  susceptibilities;  but 
in  none  of  them  have  I  discovered  that  settled 
repugnance  to  the  whole  subject  of  religion  which 
I  have  often  found  in  adult  minds.  So  that  in 
this  attempt  further  to  aid  my  young  friends  ^^to 
seek  the  Lord,  if  haply  they  may  feel  after  him 
and  find  him,  though  he  is  not  far  from  OA^ery  one 
of  us,"  I  persuade  myself  that  I  already  have  their 
sympathies;  and  with  this  confidence  I  connect 
the  hope  that  I  may  be  instrumental  in  making 
the  path  of  duty  and  happiness  plain  before  them. 

It  is  pleasant  to  enter  a  cheerful,  well-lighted 
apartment  in  the  quiet  hour  of  a  Sunday  evening 
and  see  a  group  of  intelligent  girls,  full  of  life  and 
hope,  and  not  indisposed  to  listen  to  whatever  may 
be  appropriately  and  seasonably  said  to  them. 
All  the  associations  of  the  place  and  time  invite 


SYMPATHY.  15 

to  thoughtfulness.  It  is  not  merely  as  a  teacher 
that  I  have  been  accustomed  to  mingle  in  such  a 
group,  but  as  a  friend  who  feels  with  them  that 
the  world  is  very  beautiful  and  its  promises  very 
fair.  I  am  a  partaker  of  their  joy,  though  I  may 
not  have  the  flush  and  buoyancy  of  earlier  days. 
I  can  share  in  their  bright  visions  of  the  future, 
though  I  know  how  many  of  them  will  prove  de- 
lusive. I  can  anticipate  their  sad  disappointments, 
while  my  predominant  desire  is  that  they  may 
attain  to  the  full  measure  of  happiness  of  which 
their  nature  is  susceptible.  Nor  have  I  any 
monkish,  morbid  views  of  life,  its  pleasures  or 
pursuits.  If  Christianity — that  is,  the  religion  of 
Christ — does  not  cheer  the  spirits,  sustain  the 
hopes,  give  courage  to  the  hearts  and  vigour  to 
the  minds  of  men,  its  promise  is  not  redeemed. 
Its  professed  office,  in  the  striking  language  of 
Oriental  imagery,  is  "  to  preach  good  tidings  unto 
the  meek,  to  bind  up  the  broken-hearted,  to  pro- 
claim liberty  to  the  captives,  and  the  opening  of 
the  prison  to  them  that  are  bound,  to  comfort  all 
that  mourn,  to  give  beauty  for  ashes,  the  oil  of  joy 
for  mourning,  the  garment  of  praise  for  the  spirit 
of  heaviness.'^ 


16  CONSCIOUS    WANTS. 

That  there  should  exist  in  any  intelligent  mind 
a  positive  aversion  to  the  whole  subject  of  re- 
ligious faith  and  duty,  which,  in  some  form,  in- 
terests every  human  being,  can  be  explained  only 
upon  the  hypothesis  that  the  moral  perception 
has  been  obscured  or  perverted,  so  that  darkness 
is  put  for  light  and  light  for  darkness.  We  say 
''  every  human  being ;"  for,  except  in  those  who 
are  destitute  of  the  natural  faculties  of  men,  there 
must  needs  be  a  consciousness,  more  or  less  dis- 
tinct, of  an  immaterial  nature ;  and  for  the  wants 
of  that  nature,  a  moment's  reflection  must  con- 
vince us,  something  is  required  which  the  material 
w^orld  cannot  supply. 

That  I  am  a  living  being  is  a  matter  of  con- 
sciousness. I  did  not  create  myself.  My  life  is 
a  gift.  I  am  allowed  to  live.  Whether  such  a 
being  should  ever  have  a  place  here  at  all,  no  one 
could  have  told  one  hundred  years  ago,  unless  it 
were  supernaturally  revealed  to  him.  The  Creator 
must  be  greater  and  wiser  than  the  creature.  He 
that  build  ed  the  house  hath  more  honour  than  the 
house.  I  was  made  for  some  end.  The  involun- 
tary exercises  of  my  mind  and  the  emotions  of 
my  heart;  my  passions  of  love  and  fear  and  joy 


CONDITIONS   OF   OUR   BEING.  17 

and  hope  and  anger,  are  part  of  myself.  I  can 
think  with  pain  or  pleasure  upon  what  I  heard  or 
did  or  saw  yesterday,  last  week,  or  years  ago; 
and  though  I  know  not  what  shall  be  on  the  mor- 
row, yet  my  plans  are  formed  for  days  and  weeks 
to  come,  and  I  anticipate  with  pain  or  pleasure 
what  (if  it  occurs  at  all)  may  not  occur  for 
months  or  years.  ' 

What  is  my  condition  here  ?  I  am  not  an  iso- 
lated creature.  I  am  surrounded  with  beings  like 
myself, — creatures  of  God,  passing  through  life 
as  across  a  stage  and  disappearing  by  thousands 
upon  thousands  every  day.     Surely  it  cannot  be 

"  all  an  empty  show, 
For  man's  illusion  given." 

I  cannot  be  blind  to  the  evidences  of  the  power, 
wisdom  and  lov^  of  God  in  my  own  frame  and 
faculties  and  the  stupendous  works  of  his  hands 
which  stand  out  above,  beneath  and  around  me. 
In  the  right  use  of  his  gifts,  I  am  capable  of 
exquisite  but  not  unmingled  enjoyment;  while  the 
abuse  of  them  brings  with  it  intense  and  Various 
pain.  And,  moreover,  with  all  these  tokens  of 
divine  benevolence  that  meet  my  eye,  there  are 
evidences  of  a  blight  and  a  curse.     Labour  and 

B  2*  ^ 


18  THE   GRAVEST   OF    QUESTIONS. 

toil,  sickness,  sorrow  and  deatli,  chagrin,  disap- 
pointment and  despair,  discontent  and  poverty, 
crime  and  wretchedness,  are  spread  all  over  the 
earth.  If  I  ask  the  cause  of  this,  I  am  told  it  is 
SIN,  and  that  I  am  infected  with  it,  as  are  all  my 
fellow-creatures.  One  trait  can  be  stereotyped  as 
part  of  the  biography  of  every  child  of  Adam : — 
He  was  a  sinner.*  A  moment's  reflection  upon 
my  own  motives  and  conduct  convinces  me  that 
it  is  so.  The  quick  perception  of  right  and  wrong, 
of  which  I  am  conscious,  presupposes  a  law  which 
is  given  by  my  Creator  to  be  a  rule  of  my  life ; 
and  sin  is  a  transgression  of  this  law. 

What  are  the  consequences  of  transgressing  a 
divine  law  ?  One  consequence  is  present  dis- 
quiet and  fear;  and  this  starts  that  gravest  of  all 
questions  of  universal  interest  and  universal  ap- 
propriateness. How  shall  man  be  just  with  God  ? 

In  our  intercourse  with  our  fellow-men,  this 
question  often  occasions  the  deepest  solicitude. 
He  who  has  been  betrayed  into  some  violation  of 
law,  for  which  reparation  must  be  made  by  fine  or 
imprisonment,  asks,  with  inexpressible  emotion^ 
How  shall  I  meet  the  requirement? 

*  Dr.  Chalmers. 


THE    FUTURE.  19 

The  debtor  is  harassed  by  the  constant  thought 
of  his  creditor  s  power  over  him  and  by  the  con- 
tinual anxiety  lest  his  means  of  payment  should 
prove  inadequate. 

What  is  before  me  ?  The  only  certain  thing  is 
death.  If  I  live  another  hour  or  day,  it  must  be 
by  some  power  above  and  independent  of  myself. 
I  can  end  my  present  life  instantly,  but  I  cannot 
prolong  it  a  single  moment.  If  I  live,  life  must 
be  a  ceaseless  conflict  with  the  evil  inclinations  of 
my  heart  and  with  the  outward  temptations  of 
the  world.  Many  joys  may  attend  my  path;  but, 
like  the  impatient  prophet's  gourd,  they  may  grow 
up  and  wither  in  the  same  night. 

And  is  such  a  life  a  gift  of  love?  Yes,  of  in- 
finite love.  But  not  if  we  leave  out  of  view  its 
relations  to  another  and  a  better. 


*'  Were  it  the  whole  of  life  to  live, 
Or  all  of  death  to  die," 


human  existence  would  be  not  only  a  mystery, 
but  a  mockery  and  curse.  What  gives  our  pre- 
sent transient  being  its  incomprehensible  value 
and  interest,  is  that,  if  wisely  improved,  it  in- 
troduces us  to  our   true  life, — our   immortality; 


20  THE    BIBLE. 

and  it  is  the  anticipation  of  this  true  life  that 
mitigates  the  sorrows,  purifies  the  joys  and 
brightens  the  hopes  of  our  brief  pilgrimage  here ; 

*'  Beyond  this  vale  of  tears 
There  is  a  life  above, 
Unmeasured  by  the  flight  of  years  ; 
And  all  that  life  is  love/' 

What  knowledge  have  we  of  such  a  life,  and 
whence  is  it  derived?  Which  is  the  way  to  it, 
and  what  do  we  need  to  prepare  us  for  its  enjoy- 
ment ? 

We  have  in  our  hands  a  familiar  volume,  which 
we  call  the  Bible,  and  this  is  said  to  be  a  revelation 
from  God,  and  to  contain  all  that  we  need  to  know 
respecting  his  character,  laws  and  government  as 
well  as  concerning  our  own  condition  and  destiny. 
We  are,  however,  told  of  other  sacred  books  and 
pretended  revelations.  There  are  the  Shasters,  or 
divine  books  of  the  Brahminical  religion,  whose 
disciples  embrace  more  than  an  eighth  part  of  the 
human  family.  These  books  reveal  three  tim^s 
as  many  objects  of  worship  as  there  are  worship- 
pers !  There  is  Buddhism,  "  the  number  of  whose 
votaries  far  exceeds  that  of  any  other  religious 
system  on  the  globe,  though  it  places  its  disciples 


AUTHORITY   OF   THE    BIBLE.  2] 

in  the  marvellous  position  of  worshipping  an  ex- 
tinct being  !"*  There  is  the  Koran,  or  the  Bible 
of  the  Mohammedans,  containing  exactly  three 
hundred  and  twenty-three  thousand  and  fifteen 
letters,  which  is  received  as  of  divine  origin  by 
about  one-sixth  of  our  fellow-men.  Then  there 
are  the  Jews,  who  hold  to  the  divine  authority  of 
the  Old  Testament,  but  reject  the  New  5  while 
the  believers  of  the  Greek  and  Papal  churches, 
embracing  more  than  another  sixth  part  of  the 
world,  receive  the  Scriptures  as  of  divine  origin 
and  authority,  but  receive,  as  of  equal  authority, 
the  interpretation  which  "the  church"  (meaning 
their  church)  puts  upon  them.  Indeed,  apart  from 
such  interpretation,  they  regard  the  sacred  oracles 
as  a  source  of  error  and  confusion. 

It  is  the  popular  impression  that  Protestants 
generally  hold  the  Scriptures  to  be  of  themselves 
the  only  and  the  sufficient  rule  of  faith  and  practice, 
so  that  "whatsoever  is  not  read  therein  nor  may 
be  proved  thereby  is  not  to  be  required  of  any  man 
that  it  should  be  believed  as  an  article  of  faith,  or 
be  thought  requisite  or  necessary  to  salvation." 

*  Princeton  Review,  July,  1859. 


22  RELIGIOUS   OPINIONS. 

It  may  be  doubted,  however,  whether  the  faith 
of  any  person  rests  exclusively  on  his  own  original 
conceptions  of  what  is  taught  in  Holy  Scripture. 
A  religious  doctrine  is  announced  and  advocated, 
and  the  attempt  is  made  to  show  its  consonance 
to  divine  revelation.  The  disciple  is  referred  to 
that  acknowledged  standard  of  truth,  and  resorts 
to  it  to  determine  whether  the  new  doctrine  is 
"read  therein  or  may  be  proved  thereby."  He  is 
supposed  to  accept  or  reject  it  according  to  the 
response  of  this  sacred  oracle.  But  how  many 
influences,  too  subtle  for  analysis,  may  have  per- 
verted his  apprehension  or  warped  his  judgment! 
It  may  be  that  education,  social  relations,  or  for- 
tuitous circumstances  of  residence  and  association 
have  given  a  strong  bias  to  the  mind  before  the 
appeal  is  made  to  the  acknowledged  standard. 

It  cannot  be  denied  that  those  w^ho  are  supposed 
to  have  formed  their  religious  opinions  under  the 
teachings  of  Holy  Scripture  do  greatly  differ  in 
what  they  believe  and  teach ;  and  hence  the  almost 
endless  diversity  of  creeds,  denominations,  sects 
and  schools.  But  a  close  examination  wiU  show 
that  in  a  very  large  majority  of  cases  these  differ- 
ences relate  to  points  not  involving  human  salvation. 


THE   apostles'    CREED.  23 

We  know  of  no  Protestant  communion  that  denies 
the  possibihty  of  salvation  out  of  its  pale;  and 
ninety-nine  hundredths  of  the  real  and  nominal 
disciples  of  Christ  would  readily  agree  that  what 
is  familiarly  known  as  the  Apostles'  Creed  contains 
the  essential  doctrines  of  Christian  faith.  Be- 
yond this  they  would  not  insist  upon  any  belief 
as  necessary  or  requisite  to  salvation.  Less  than 
this  Avould  not  be  consistent  with  submission  to 
the  Scriptures  as  a  rule  of  faith. 

Some  are  disposed  to  plead  the  diversities  of 
sects  as  an  excuse  for  keeping  themselves  aloof 
from  a  connection  with  any  of  them;  and  they 
even  go  so  far  as  to  call  in  question  the  genuine- 
ness of  religion  itself,  because  its  disciples  differ 
so  widely  in  respect  to  its  doctrines.  But  they 
forget  that  each  of  these  systems  of  faith  is  nothing 
more  than  the  expression  of  an  opinion  as  to  what 
the  Scriptures  teach,  and  upon  us  is  laid  the  obli- 
gation to  "search  the  Scriptures,  to  see  if  these 
things  are  so."  In  a  free  country  like  our's  there 
are  different  political  parties,  and  the  views  of 
public  policy  which  distinguish  them,  one  from  the 
other,  are  investigated  by  intelligent  citizens,  and 
as  their  opinions  coincide  with  or  differ  from  this 


24  AUTHORITATIVE    STANDARDS. 

or  that  party  or  school,  so  they  enrol  themselves 
among  its  advocates  or  opponents. 

But  there  are  remarkable  differences  in  the  tv^o 
cases.  The  instrument  by  which,  under  a  govern- 
ment like  ours,  the  right  or  wrong  of  public  mea- 
sures is  determined,  is  of  human  origin,  and  of 
course  imperfect.  It  was  formed  in  ignorance  of 
what  time  might  effect  in  the  condition  and  circum- 
stances of  the  people.  And,  besides,  the  conse- 
quences of  the  most  erroneous  interpretation  of  its 
essential  principles  cannot  reach  beyond  the  bounds 
of  time.  It  is  therefore  of  little  moment,  compa- 
ratively, to  what  party  one  is  attached,  if  he  dis- 
charges the  duties  of  a  good  citizen.  And  yet 
there  are  few  persons  who  have  not  more  sympathy 
with  one  party  than  with  another. 

In  the  religious  world  we  claim  to  have  an  instru- 
ment of  divine  origin  by  which  to  determine  what 
is  right  and  wrong  in  opinion  and  practice.  It  was 
formed  with  the  most  perfect  knowledge  of  aU  pos- 
sible contingencies  and  all  possible  conditions  of 
those  who  should  live  under  it.  To  misinterpret  an 
essential  principle  of  it  involves  fearful  hazards  for 
this  world  and  the  next ;  and  not  to  recognise  it  as 
a  guide  and  rule  of  life  is  to  prefer  darkness  to  light. 


THE    CHURCH.  25 

Instead,  therefore,  of  rejecting  the  oracles  of  divine 
tifuth  because  their  responses  are  variously  con- 
strued  by  those  who  profess  to  rely  on  them,  we 
'  should  give  the  more  earnest  heed  to  them,  in  order 
that  our  own  views  may  be  governed  by  them. 
And  when,  with  the  best  light  we  can  obtain,  these 
views  are  definitely  settled,  we  should  join  our- 
selves to  those  whose  conclusions  correspond  most 
nearly  with  our  own. 

As  already  intimated,  there  are  some  who  main- 
tain that,  from  ignorance  or  incompetency,  people 
in  general  cannot  be  expected,  of  themselves,  to 
form  correct  opinions  of  the  teachings  of  the  in- 
spired volume ;  and  hence  (says  one)  "  the  church, 
in  various  ages,  has  given  them  an  interpretation 
which  is  to  be  received  as  of  binding  authority." 
This  claim  may  perhaps  present  a  question  of  pre- 
cedence. Much  of  what  we  receive  as  a  divine 
revelation  relates  to  the  foundation  and  progress 
of  "the  church  of  the  living  God,  the  pillar  and 
ground  (stay)  of  the  truth,"  and  to  the  means  of 
extending  the  kingdom  of  its  founder  and  supreme 
"head  to  the  ends  of  the  earth.  We  may  not 
be  able  to  fix  the  date  or  describe  the  constituents 
of  the  earliest  community  which  could  properly 


26  PRIVATE    INTERPRETATION. 

be  called  a  church.  But  from  the  earliest  existence 
of  such  an  institution  under  the  gospel  dispensa- 
tion there  is  a  contemporaneous  declaration  of  the 
divine  will,  directing  its  offices  and  ordinances 
with  minute  particularity ;  and  a  divine  authority^ 
in  the  person  of  its  founder,  to  oversee  and  conduct 
its  administration.  His  personal  teaching  and 
example  were  enjoyed  by  his  immediate  apostles; 
and,  after  them,  at  no  subsequent  period  could  any 
judgment  have  been  formed  which  should  have  any 
authority  except  that  which  a  concurrence  of  opi- 
nion on  a  given  question  among  a  body  of  fallible 
men  (large  or  small)  is  supposed  to  carry.  Each  of 
them  has  an  individual  judgment,  founded  on  evi- 
dence presented  to  his  own  mind ;  and  their  deter- 
mination of  any  question,  whether  expressed  in  the 
form  of  a  law,  a  decree,  or  a  creed,  is  but  an  aggre- 
gate of  private  opinions.  So  that  we  are  thrown 
back  upon  the  right  and  duty  of  every  human  being 
who  has  the  opportunity  and  means  to  examine 
the  records  of  divine  truth  and  draw  from  them 
precepts,  doctrines  and  promises  for  the  govern- 
ment of  his  own  life  and  the  foundation  of  his  own 
hopes. 
j      "The  possibility — nay,  the   probability — of  a 


AN   INQUIRY.  27 

divine  revelation  is  one  of  the  first  and  simplest  in- 
stincts of  reason."  True  philosophy  inquires  if  there  { 
is  any  positive  declaration  of  the  will  of  the  Al- 
mighty; and,  finding  what  claims  to  be  such,  it  is 
received  and  obeyed,  and  leads  the  humble  disciple 
up  to  its  divine  and  incomprehensible  Author. . 
There  are  various  systems  of  false  philosophy, 
all  resting  on  certain  conceptions  of  the  Supreme 
Being  supposed  to  be  consistent  with  reason;  and 
thence  are  inferred  the  attributes  of  a  divine 
character  and  a  scheme  of  divine  government. 

"  Has  the  Almighty  given  any  messages  to  his 
creatures  ?  If  so,  how  can  we  know  them  from  all 
delusions  and  counterfeits  ?  Not  by  their  agree- 
ment with  perfect  goodness  and  infinite  wisdom; 
for  this  is  a  standard  beyond  our  reach.  If  we 
knew  perfect  goodness. and  infinite  wisdom,  a  re- 
velation would  be  superfluous.  Is  the  message 
or  messenger  accompanied  by  such  tokens  of  divine 
wisdom,  power  and  goodness  as  could  not  be  de- 
rived from  mere  natural  means  at  the  time,  and 
could  not  proceed  from  an  unseen  power  of  evil  ?" 

Perhaps  you  are  surprised  that  I  should  raise 
any  inquiry  among  persons  educated,  as  you  have 
been,  under  Christian  influences,  as  to  the  credi- 


28  NEGATIVE    FAULT. 

bilitj  of  Holy  Scripture.  But  I  fear  it  may  be 
much  more  pertinent  than  you  suppose.  There  are 
multitudes  of  persons  in  your  position  whose  faith  is 
purely  negative.  They  do  not  deny  the  truth,  nor 
do  they  embrace  it.  There  is  a  superficial  impres- 
sion that  to  be  a  Christian  is  very  right  and  proper, 
if  persons  are  inclined  that  way.  But  no  personal, 
inexorable  obligation  to  submit  to  the  claims  of  the 
gospel  is  recognised,  or  even  considered. 

"What  religion  has  to  fear  is  not  the  most 
searching  criticism  of  the  contents  of  Scripture, 
not  any  fundamental  inquiry  into  the  laws  of 
physical  phenomena,  not  the  fullest  examination 
of  every  vestige  upon  the  field  of  nature  left  by 
the  footsteps  of  time."*  The  supposed  discrepan- 
cies between  the  theories  of  philosophy  and  spe- 
culation and  the  Scripture  account  of  the  creation,, 
of  the  unity  of  the  race  and  of  the  diversity  of 
tongues,  have  been  found  to  have  no  real  exist- 
ence. Whenever  science  has  vaunted  itself  upon 
some  new  discovery  which  seems  to  involve  the 
credibiHty  of  sacred  history,  it  has  so  turned  out 
that  another  step  in  advance  or  in   some    other 

*  "  The  Inspiration  of  Holy  Scripture,  its  Nature  and  Proof," 
by  William  Lee,  D.D.,  London,  1857,  p.  421. 


TRUE    DANGER.  29 

direction  has  furnished  new  evidence  from  itself  to 
confirm  or  elucidate  the  inspired  record.  "  Hence 
the  true  source  of  alarm  is  the  danger  to  their 
faith  which  those  persons  must  encounter  who 
content  themselves  with  superficial  information  or 
partial  knowledge."* 

The  other  day,  two  young  ladies  were  con- 
versing about  some  work  of  Carlyle,  which  one 
of  them  was  persuading  the  other  to  read.  The 
admirer  of  this  erratic  speculator  took  occasion  to 
utter  some  bitter  maledictions  upon  one  of  his  re- 
viewers,— whereupon  her  companion  (who  was  a 
Roman  Catholic)  reproved  her,  at  the  same  time 
quoting  the  passage,  "Vengeance  is  mine,"  &c. 
To  the  inquiry  where  that  came  from,  it  was  an- 
swered, "  From  the  Bible ;"  and  she  then  very  flip- 
pantly asked,  "  Do  you  believe  the  Bible  ?  for  I'm 
sure  I  don't."  The  Catholic  lady  replied,  "  Cer- 
tainly I  do.  I  believe  it  is  inspired  by  God  and 
contains  what  can  make  us  wise  unto  salvation." 
Here  was  an  educated  Protestant  unbeliever  re- 
buked by  a  disciple  of  what  we  justly  regard  as 
one  of  the  most  corrupt  forms  of  Christianity! 


*  Ibid. 

3* 


30  ANCIENT   WRITINGS. 

And  I  have  recently  seen  it  stated,  in  a  connection 
of  no  mean  authority,  that  "a  majority  of  the  in- 
telligent laity  of  England,  at  this  day,  do  not  yield 
allegiance  to  any  writings  simply  on  their  claims 
to  supernatural  origin."  And  even  where  Holy 
Scripture  is  received  as  a  divine  revelation, 
"truths  of  all  others  most  awful  and  interesting 
are  too  often  considered  as  so  true  that  they  lose 
all  the  power  of  truth,  and  lie,  bed-ridden,  in  the 
dormitory  of  the  soul,  side  by  side  with  the  most 
despised  and  exploded  errors." 

We  have  before  us,  then,  a  collection  of  ancient 
writings  claiming  to  be  a  revelation  from  God, 
and  we  are  to  ascertain,  so  far  as  we  can,  on  what 
this  claim  rests.  That  they  are  very  anciei^t 
writings  is  unquestionable. .  They  were  the  sacred 
books  of  the  Jews  from  the  earliest  period  of  their 
history.  The  accounts  they  contain  of  men  and 
events  are  corroborated  by  evidence  which  has 
never  been  successfully  impeached.  That  evidence 
is  written  (says  one)  over  the  rocks  and  mountains, 
the  deserts  and  plains,  of  Judea.  The  boldest 
skeptics  charge  upon  believers  in  the  Bible  no  de- 
gree of  credulity  so  absurd  as  that  of  a  man  who 
could  travel  through  the  sacred  land  with  the  Bible 


CORROBORATIVE    EVIDENCE.  31 

as  liis  guide-book  and  believe  that  it  is  not  a  true 
record  of  men  and  things  as  they  were. 

A  work  has  recently  been  published  the  de- 
sign of  which  is  to  show  that  the  popular  histories 
of  the  Mexican  conquest  and  of  the  exploits  of 
Cortez  and  the  native  armies  are  not  reliable,  and 
that  the  chronicles  on  which  these  historical  records 
are  founded  are  entirely  fabulous.  Among  the 
evidences  of  their  fictitiousness  is  the  fact,  ascer- 
tained from  personal  observation  of  the  localities, 
that  such  feats  were  simply  impossible  under  the 
circumstances  in  which  they  are  said  to  have  been 
performed.  The  face  of  the  country,  it  is  said, 
presents  none  of  the  features  which  the  supposed 
incidents  require.  Now,  the  journeyings  of  the 
children  of  Israel  are  minutely  described  by  the 
sacred  historian,^the  places  where  they  halted, 
the  wells  and  brooks  they  passed,  and  the  plains 
and  deserts  which  they  traversed.  Among  the 
most  memorable  events  in  that  journey  of  forty 
years  was  the  encampment  at  Sinai,  the  geogra- 
phical features  of  which  are  distinctly  described 
by  the  inspired  historian.  And  it  is  the  express 
testimony  of  one  of  the  most  intelligent  and  dis- 
criminating of  modern   travellers,  not  only  that 


32  GUARDS   TO   THE    TEXT. 

there  is  no  discrepancy  between  the  incidents  of  the 
sacred  narrative  and  the  natural  aspect  of  the  spot 
where  they  occurred,  but  that  in  no  other  quarter 
of  the  peninsula  is  there  a  place  corresponding  in 
any  degree  so  fully  to  the  historical  account  and 
to  the  circumstances  of  the  case.  Here  lay  a 
plain  broad  enough  to  receive  the  mighty  host  of 
Israel,  and  here  was  a  mountain  from  whence 
alone  the  lightnings  and  the  thick  cloud  would  be 
visible  to  such  a  multitude  and  the  thunders  and 
the  voice  of  a  trumpet  be  heard  by  them,  when  the 
Lord  came  down  in  the  sight  of  all  the  people,  upon 
Mount  Sinai.* 

The  writings  to  which  successive  generations  of 
the  Jews  gave  heed  as  of  divine  authority  were 
constantly  read  in  their  synagogue.  It  was  the 
office  of  a  particular  class  of  men  to  study  them  and 
to  preserve  their  integrity  and  purity.  From  the 
time  of  the  dismemberment  of  the  Jewish  kingdom, 
which  occurred  early  in  the  reign  of  Rehoboam,  there 
have  been  extant  two  independent  copies  of  the  five 
books  of  Moses, — one  in  possession  of  the  Jews, 
and  the  other  in  possession  of  the  Samaritans ;  and, 

*  Kobinson's  Researches,  vol.  i.  pp.  158,  176. 


INPERENCES.  33 

though  critics  differ  as  to  the  preference  in  point 
of  antiquity,  purity,  &c.,  their  coexistence  in  the 
hands  of  rival  and  hostile  parties  must  be  regarded 
as  no  ordinary  security  against  corruption. 

And  so  intimately  is  the  subsequent  history  of 
the  nation  associated  with  institutions  and  ordi- 
nances, of  the  nature,  origin  and  design  of  which 
these  books  alone  give  any  account,  that  they 
must  stand  or  fall  together.  If  there  were  such 
men  as  Abraham  and  Joseph,  Moses  and  Aaron, 
there  must  also  have  been  such  men  as  David 
and  Solomon,  Isaiah  and  Daniel.  If  there  were  a 
temple,  an  altar  and  a  sacrifice,  there  were  also  an 
Aaron,  an  Eli  and  a  Samuel.  If  there  were  a 
captivity  and  a  restoration  of  the  Jews,  there 
must  have  been  a  Josiah,  an  Ezra  and  a  Nehemiah. 
If  the  Pentateuch  is  rejected,  no  ancient  writing 
can  maintain  its  claims  to  credibility.  If  it  is 
admitted  as  genuine,  the  other  scriptures  of  the 
Old  Testament  must  be  allowed  equal  credit  and 
currency. 

The  introduction  of  the  Christian  dispensation 
would  not  tend  to  relax  the  vigilance  with  which 
the  JcAvs  guarded  their  own  Scriptures.  The 
stated  use  of  them  in  the  synagogues,  and  the  con- 


34  JEWISH    SCRIPTURES. 

stant  reference  to  them  by  the  founder  and  apostles 
of  the  new  faith,  as  well  as  by  the  Jewish  scribes 
and  doctors  of  the  law  in  justification  of  their  un- 
belief, attest  the  authority  in  which  they  were 
held.  To  those  who  believe  in  the  divine  mission 
of  Christ,  his  repeated  citation  of  these  scriptures, 
as  sacred  and  authoritative  writings,  would  seem 
to  end  all  controversy.  When  he  was  teaching 
in  the  temple,  and  replied  to  the  chief  priests  and 
elders  who  were  disposed  to  question  his  authority, 
"Did  ye  never  read  in  the  Scriptures,  The  stone 
which  the  builders  rejected,  the  same  is  become 
the  head  of  the  corner?"  he  spoke  of  what  was 
familiar  to  them  and  of  unquestionable  authority. 
At  a  public  festival  in  Jerusalem,  when  the  Jews 
were  so  incensed  against  him  as  to  seek  his  life, 
he  directed  them  to  "  search  the  Scriptures ;  for," 
said  he,  "  in  them  ye  think  ye  have  eternal  life ; 
and  they  testify  of  me."  And  in  the  same  dis- 
course he  said,  "There  is  one  that  accuseth  you, 
even  Moses,  in  whom  ye  trust;  for  had  ye  behoved 
Moses,  ye  would  have  believed  me ;  for  he  wrote  of 
me;  but  if  ye  believe  not  his  writings,  how  shall 
ye  believe  my  words?"  There  can  be  no  doubt 
that  "Scriptures"  and  "writings"  in  these  pass- 


JEWISH    SCRIPTURES.  35 

ages  referred  to  well-known  and  authentic  docu- 
ments. 

On  another  occasion  he  appeals  to  his  Jewish 
auditory,  when  greatly  excited  against  him,  "Is 
it  not  written  in  your  law?"  &c.  The  book  of 
Psalms  is  also  repeatedly  cited  as  a  well-known 
section  or  collection  of  these  sacred  writings  ;  and 
in  the  interview  which  our  Saviour  had  with  his 
disciples  after  his  resurrection,  he  expressly  re- 
cognises the  division  of  them  into  the  three  de- 
partments of  the  law,  the  prophets  and  the  Psalms ; 
and  then  "opened  he  their  understandings, jthat 
they  might  understand  the  Scriptures." 

When  Paul  was  in  Thessalonica  he  went  into  a 
synagogue  of  the  Jews  and  "  reasoned  with  them 
out  of  the  Scriptures."  ApoUos,  who  was  him- 
self "mighty  in  the  Sci;:iptures,"  convinced  the 
Jews  in  Achaia,  "  publicly  showing  by  the  Scrip- 
tures that  Jesus  was  the  Christ ;"  and  in  the  nar- 
rative of  the  interview  between  Philip  and  the 
Ethiopian  eunuch  we  have  specific  reference  to  a 
particular  passage  of  the  sacred  writings,  and 
"the  place"  or  "passage"  which  he  read  is  cited 
by  the  historian,  and  is  found  in  the  fifty-third 
chapter  of  Isaiah.     So  that  it  may  be  truly  said 


36  CHRISTIAN    SCRIPTURES. 

not  only  that  the  Pentateuch,  as  a  whole,  but  the 
entire  Old  Testament,  "  was  alive  in  the  minds  of 
the  Jewish  people  when  the  new  covenant  was 
revealed." 

Is  there  any  room  for  doubt,  then,  that  the  truth 
and  authority  of  so  much  of  the  book  before  us  as 
we  call  the  Old  Testament  received  the  fullest 
attestation  from  Christ  and  his  apostles  ? 

We  now  turn  to  the  other  portion,  which  we 
call  the  New  Testament  and  which  is  the  founda- 
tion of  the  Christian  faith.  Is  its  sufficiency  for 
such  a  reliance  indisputable? 

In  the  first  place,  if  it  is  not  reliable,  the  argu- 
ment which  we  have  derived  from  it  in  support 
of  the  Old  Testament  has,  of  course,  no  validity. 
Yet  it  must  be  admitted  that  as  a  supplement  to 
the  Jewish  Scriptures  it  is  surprisingly  natural 
and  complete.  The  entire  volume  of  these  Scrip- 
tures had  been  in  the  hands  of  the  Jews  for  nearly 
five  hundred  years  when  Christ  appeared.  The 
historical  and  prophetic  records  which  they  contain 
were  the  subject  of  earnest  inquiry  and  diligent 
study.  Every  thing  in  the  civil  and  social  condition 
of  the  nation  concurred  to  excite  expectations  of 
some  great  event  at  or  near  the  period  of  Christ's 


chkist's  appearance.  37 

advent.  The  devout  servants  of  God  were  waiting 
in  faith  for  the  "  consolation  of  Israel,"  while  the  na- 
tion at  large  were  looking  for  a  prince  who  should 
deliver  them  from  political  subjection  and  restore  to 
them  the  power  and  grandeur  of  their  golden  age. 
To  human  view,  nothing  could  be  more  unsuited 
to  such  a  state  of  the  public  mind  than  the  birth 
of  Jesus  of  Nazareth.  If  the  object  had  been  to 
excite  the  bitterest  prejudices  of  the  Jewish  mind 
and  the  most  relentless  hostility  of  the  Jewish 
people  towards  the  new  dispensation,  it  would 
have  been  scarcely  possible  to  do  it  more  effec- 
tually than  by  giving  such  a  nativity  to  the  pro- 
mised and  expected  Messiah.  Instead  of  pre- 
paring them  by  some  intermediate,  semi-ritualistic 
ordinances  to  part  with  the  temple,  the  altar  and  the 
priesthood,  and  with  them  to  yield  their  national 
distinction  and  glory,  and  accept  in  their  place  a 
purely  spiritual  dispensation,  the  benefits  of  which 
all  the  rest  of  the  world  would  share  as  freely  as 
themselves,  the  infant  Jesus  was  presented  to 
them  as  the  incarnate  Son  of  the  eternal  God; 
a  babe  in  the  manger  at  Bethlehem  was  revealed 
as  "  the  light  that  was  to  lighten  the  Gentiles,  and 
the  glory  of  the  people  of  Israel." 


38  THE    LOCK    AND    KEY. 

Contrary  as  all  this  Avas  to  their  expectations 
and  prejudices,  no  other  manner  of  revelation 
would  fulfil  what  was  written  in  their  Scriptures 
concerning  him.  No  sooner  did  he  commence  his 
public  ministry  than  his  countrymen,  w^ith  one 
consent,  opposed  him.  They  denied  his  authority 
as  a  public  teacher;  charged  him  with  being  in 
league  with  the  prince  of  *devils;  heaped  re- 
proaches and  insults  upon  him  for  the  space  of 
three  years,  and  then,  with  a  malignant  cruelty 
aggrayated  by  the  form  of  arraignment  and  trial, 
they  laid  violent  hands  on  him  and  put  him  to  an 
ignominious  death.  All  this  was  in  literal  accord- 
ance with  the  sure  v/ord  of  prophecy,  and  might 
have  been  found  written,  with  almost  historical 
accuracy,  in  their  Scriptures  many  hundred  years 
before  the  event. 

If  we  should  find  an  ingenious  lock,  with 
numerous  complicated  wards,  in  one  place,  and 
afterwards  a  key  in  another  and  distant  place 
which  exactly  fitted  it  and  would  fit  no  other,  we 
might  reasonably  conclude  not  only  that  the  key 
was  made  for  that  lock  or  for  one  exactly  like  it, 
but  that,  if  both  were  not  made  by  the  same  man, 
the  latter  could  not  have  been  made  without  a 


AN    ILLUSTRATION.  39 

knowledge  of  the  former.  The  Old  Testament 
without  the  New  w^ould  be  a  lock  without  a  key, 
the  one  being  a  necessary  complement  to  the 
other.  "  Genesis  is  the  legitimate  preface  to  the 
law;  the  law  is  the  natural  introduction  to  the 
succeeding  books  of  the  Old  Testament,  and  the 
whole  is  a  proper  and  indispensable  prelude  to 
the  gospel  dispensation.  What  the  four  Gospels 
are  to  the  New  Testament,  the  five  books  of 
Moses  are  to  the  Old."* 

But  we  have  other  grounds  on  which  to  main- 
tain our  position. 

Suppose  a  life  of  Solon — who,  as  we  know,  lived 
six  hundred  years  before  the  birth  of  Christ — was 
in  our  hands,  together  with  a  life  of  Socrates,  who 
lived  two  hundred  years  later.  The  authenticity 
of  the  latter  is  admitted,  but  some  doubt  exists  as 
to  the  former.  Upon  examining  the  latter,  we 
find  frequent  references  to  a  life  of  Solon  extant 
when  it  was  written,  and  one  passage  which  is 
quoted  word  for  word  from  it.  Would  not  such 
a  discovery  remove  all  doubt  that  such  a  life  of 
Solon  was  in  existence  when  the  life  of  Socrates 
was  written? 

*  Ayerst's  Prize  Essay. 


40  EARLY   TESTIMONY. 

Two  or  more  of  the  writings  wiiich  we  call  the 
Gospels  were  written  within  thirty  years  after  the 
ascension  of  Christ.  Thousands  of  people  were  living 
during  that  interval,  and  for  years  afterwards,  who 
were  familiar  with  the  persons,  places  and  inci- 
dents which  they  record.  Has  there  been  a  tittle 
of  reliable  evidence  from  any  source,  or  a  single 
credible  witness  from  any  of  the  towns,  cities  and 
villages  in  which  the  Redeemer  lived,  preached, 
and  wrought  his  miracles  of  mercy,  to  invalidate 
their  claim  to  implicit  faith?     Not  one. 

It  is  supposed  that  both  Ignatius  and  Polycarp 
had  personal  acquaintance  and  intercourse  with 
some  of  the  apostles.  The  former  of  these  holy 
martyrs,  who  suffered  a.d.  107,  refers  to  the  Gos- 
pels in  terms  which  imply  not  only  their  being 
published  at  that  time,  but  their  being  regarded 
as  a  true  record  of  the  sayings  and  doings  of 
Christ.  "  In  order  to  understand  the  will  of  God," 
he  says,  "flee  to  the  Gospels,  which  I  believe  not 
less  than  if  Christ  had  been  speaking  to  me."  Be- 
fore the  middle  of  the  second  century,  Avhile  the 
immediate  descendants  of  the  actors  in  these 
scenes  and  the  authors  of  these  writings  were 
living,  the  books  were  collected  into  a  volume,  and 


JEWISH    PREJUDICE.  41 

wer^  generally  received  a^  an  infallible  directory  of 
faith  and  duty  by  the  adherents  of  the  new  doctrine. 
And  so  controlling  was  their  faith  in  them,  that 
the  most  terrific  forms  of  torture  and  death  which 
the  malice  of  their  persecutors  could  invent, 
seemed  only  to  give  new  emphasis  and  earnest- 
ness to  their  testimony. 

During  the  eighteen  intervening  centuries  the 
Jews  as  a  people  have  rejected  the  claims  of  Jesus 
to  be  their  Messiah,  and  of  course  they  regard  the 
gospel  history  as  unworthy  of  credit.  They  have 
no  knowledge  of  the  counsels  of  God  as  they  are 
revealed  in  the  person  and  offices  of  Jesus  Christ. 
They  cling  to  a  dispensation  of  types  and  shadows 
which  was  merely  introductory  to  a  better  cove- 
nant established  upon  better  promises.  Like  the 
fond  child,  who  in  the  delirium  of  its  grief  throws 
itself  on  the  cold  and  senseless  body  of  its  dead 
mother,  they  cleave  to  Moses  and  the  prophets 
and,  with  a  judicial  infatuation,  deny  Him  "of 
whom  Moses  and  the  prophets  did  write."  But 
never  have  they  successfully  impeached  the  vera- 
city of  the  New  Testament  history.  Never  have 
they  impaired  in  the  shghtest  degree  its  claim 
to  be  received  as  of  divine  authority.     And  who 


42  JEWISH    SILENCE. 

could  assail  them  Avitli  any  hope  of  success  if  iliey 
could  not  ?  The  other  portion  of  the  volume  of 
evidence  originally  committed  to  their  custody  is 
still  in  their  hands.  The  parties  and  incidents 
most  prominent  in  the  history  are  interwoven  with 
the  civil,  social  and  ecclesiastical  annals  of  their 
nation.  The  scenes  described  take  their  character 
and  hue  from  the  mountains  and  vales  and  lakes 
with  which  they  are  most  familiar.  The  wit- 
nesses, advocates  and  propagators  of  the  new 
faith  were  taken  from  among  their  own  people, — 
and  some  of  them  of  no  mean  condition  and  repu- 
tation :  surely  they  have  ample  opportunity  and 
means  to  detect  and  expose  any  surreptitious 
claims.  But  they  are  silent.  As  in  many  things 
during  the  incarnation  of  the  Messiah  they  unde- 
signedly and  unconsciously  fulfilled  their  own 
Scriptures,  so  in  their  pertinacious  rejection  of 
him  they  only  confirm  and  exemplify  what  their 
own  prophets  have  declared  concerning  him.  And 
in  the  fulness  of  time  their  return  to  the  Shep- 
herd and  Bishop  of  their  souls  will,  in  like 
manner,  illustrate  the  truth  and  magnify  the  grace 
of  the  gospel. 

It  is  not  denied  that  for  at  least  fifteen  hun- 


ANCIENT    MANUSCEIPTS.  43 

dred  years  the  New  Testament  in  its  present  form 
has  been  received  by  Christians  and  recognised  as 
of  divine  authority  in  public  and  private.  It  has 
been  the  umpire  to  which  questions  of  faith  and 
duty  have  been  referred,  and  its  decisions  have 
been  the  end  of  all  controversy.  Whatever  doubts 
may  have  existed  at  an  earlier  period  in  the  minds 
of  friends  or  foes  respecting  the  claim  of  the  col- 
lection, or  any  portion  of  it,  to  be  a  revelation  from 
God,  they  must  have  been  dissipated ;  for,  without 
question,  the  collection,  as  a  whole, 'rests  on  a  far 
firmer  historical  foundation,  and  is  more  com- 
pletely accredited  and  sustained  by  internal  and 
external  proofs,  than  other  works  of  antiquity 
which  all  the  world  regards  as  genuine. 

A  recent  examination  of  Persian,  Syrian,  Greek 
and  other  monasteries,  made*  under  authority  of 
the  imperial  government  of  Russia,  has  brought 
to  light  several  manuscripts  of  various  dates  from 
the  fifth  to  the  tenth  century,  containing  indubit- 
able evidence  of  the  existence  and  authority  of 
the  sacred  writings,  and  that  they  were  then  an- 
cient records.  Among  these  invaluable  treasures 
is  a  Greek  MS.  of  the  Bible,  discovered  in  a  mo- 

^  By  Prof.  Tischendorf. 


44  ANCIENT    MANUSCRIPTS. 

nastery  at  Mount  Sinai,  supposed  to  be  the  oldest 
in  existence.  The  Old  Testament  is  in  the  same 
text  as  that  used  by  the  apostles  in  their  quota- 
tions, and  the  New  Testament  is  complete.  The 
date  of  the  MS.  is  supposed  to  be  at  or  near  the 
commencement  of  the  fourth  century,  probably 
in  the  time  of  Constantino  the  Great.  "These 
writings,"  says  one,  "are  drawn  from  the  grave 
of  ages  as  living  wellnesses  to  the  present  genera- 
tion of  the  inspired  authority  of  the  apostolical 
Scriptures.  Sacred  treasures  they  are,  which  in 
secure  repose  at  the  foot  of  the  Mount  of  Moses 
have  survived,  as  by  a  miracle  of  Providence, 
through  all  the  storms  of  the  tumultuous  centu- 
ries of  the  past." 

It  is  not  needful  to  inquire  particularly  into 
the  claims  of  each  book  of  the  New  Testament. 
Suffice  it  to  say  that  the  general  evidence  of  the 
truth  of  the  apostolic  acts  and  epistles  is  of  the 
same  character  and  of  equal  force  with  that  which 
is  adduced  in  support  of  the  gospel  history. 

Before  we  leave  this  topic,  it  may  be  well  to 
reflect  for  a  moment  how  much  depends  on  the  ge- 
nuineness of  the  sacred  writings^.  We  can  scarcely 
conceive  of  a  condition  more  forlorn  than  that  of 


A   CONSCIOUS   WANT.  45 

a  child  who  has  fallen  asleep  in  a  boat,  with- 
out oars  or  rudder,  which  by  some  oversight  has 
become  loose  and  drifted  far  out  to  sea.  Awaking, 
the  helpless  little  navigator  finds  his  frail  craft 
tossed  hither  and  thither  by  the  wild  waves  and 
threatened  with  destruction.  If  a  vessel  were  to 
heave  in  sight,  he  has  no  means  of  signalizing  her. 
If  he  knew  which  way  to  steer  to  reach  some 
shore,  he  has  nothing  with  which  to  propel  the 
boat  or  direct  its  course.  He  can  only  gaze 
vacantly  and  despairingly  upon  the  boundless 
expanse  and  fathomless  abyss  of  waters,  and  re- 
sign himself  to  a  seemingly  hopeless  destiny. 

But  inconceivably  more  forlorn  is  the  condition 
of  a  human  being  in  the  absence  of  a  revelation  of 
God's  will.  With  overwhelming  evidences  of  the 
existence  of  an  infinite  and  intelligent  Creator,  he 
is  conscious  of  desires  and  capacities  that  elevate 
him  above  all  orders  of  creatures  about  him. 
Endowed  with  the  faculty  to  discern  between 
right  and  wrong,  he  cannot  fail  to  connect  with  it 
the  idea  of  a  lawgiver  and  a  judge.  Not  more 
eagerly  does  the  hart  pant  for  the  water-brook 
than  the  human  soul  craves  some  portion  suited 
to  its  superior  nature ;  and  such  a  portion  it  seeks 


46  A   LIFE    TO    COME. 

in  vain  within  itself  or  within  the  bounds  of  time 
and  sense.  Not  a  nation,  people  or  tribe  has  ever 
yet  been  found  in  whose  rites  and  superstitions 
there  was  not  some  trace  of  faith  in  a  life  to  come. 
It  is  as  universally  characteristic  of  man  as  an 
erect  posture  or  the  power  of  articulation.  Sys- 
tems of  philosophy  assert  the  desire,  the  hope  and 
even  the  probability  of  a  future ;  but  in  what  vain 
and  vague  speculations  do  they  indulge  till,  by  the 
light  of  a  divine  revelation,  something  is  learned 
of  the  nature  and  attributes  of  God ;  the  principles 
of  his  moral  government;  the  relations  of  the 
human  family  under  it;  the  wonders  of  his  provi- 
dence and  grace,  and  the  retributions  of  the  world 
to  come! 

If  there  is  one  particular  in  which  the  intelli- 
gence of  the  divine  Author  of  all  things  is  more 
conspicuous  to  human  view  than  in  any  other,  it  is 
the  perfect  adaptation  of  the  nature  of  each  order 
of  creatures  to  its  condition  and  circumstances. 
The  camel  is  found  where  he  is  wanted  and 
where  he  can  live.  Birds  of  the  air  are  not 
web-footed,  nor  do  the  fishes  of  the  sea  have 
wings  and  feathers.  The  powers  and  passions  of 
the  human  soul  are  adapted  to  an  immaterial,  im- 


FRUITS    OF    THE    BIBLE.  47 

mortal  existence;  and  it  Avould  be  contrary  to  all 
the  laws  of  analogy  if  it  were  not  so.  And  yet 
in  what  almost  total  darkness  would  this  mys- 
terious future  of  our  being  be  wrapped  were  it 
not  for  the  disclosures  which  this  book  makes! 
Life  and  immortality  are  brought  to  light  in  the 
gospel.  The  great  problems  of  human  apostasy 
and  redemption  are  here  solved.  The  only  hope 
and  help  of  a  sinner  are  revealed  in  the  doing  and 
the  dying  of  the  Son  of  God;  death  and  the 
grave  are  divested  of  their  terrific  power;  the 
flaming  sword  is  withdrawn  from  the  entrance  to 
paradise,  and  its  gates  are  re-opened  to  every  son 
and  daughter  of  Adam  who  will  penitently  accept 
a  gratuitous  pardon.  Let  this  light  that  shines 
in  our  darkness  be  extinguished;  let  Holy  Scrip- 
tures prove  to  be  a  cunningly-devised  fable,  and 
we  should  sink  at  once  into  the  absurdities  and 
cruelties  of  the  grossest  pagan  superstition. 

Limited  and  imperfect  as  is  the  direct  influence 
of  the  Bible  in  our  world,  it  is,  nevertheless,  the 
essential  element  of  all  civilization  and  progress. 
It  has  not  caused  wars  and  fightings  wholly  to 
cease,  nor  has  it  put  a  full  end  to  selfishness,  fraud 
and  oppression;  but,  were  its  influence  to  be  en- 


48  VALUE    OF    THE    BIBLE. 

tirely  withdrawn  for  a  single  generation,  there  is 
not  a  civil,  social  or  domestic  relation  that  would 
escape  the  blight.  The  principles  of  our  faith, 
derived  from  Holy  Scripture,  are  interwoven  with 
the  very  structure  of  society;  and  even  where 
they  are  weakened  and  corrupted  by  super- 
stition and  formahsm,  they  serve  to  elevate 
public  sentiment,  to  restrain  outbreaking  wicked- 
ness and  to  keep  the  social  fabric  from  falling  into 
ruin. 

These  sacred  pages  explain  some  of  the  deepest 
mysteries  in  the  history  and  condition  of  our  race. 
They  reveal  the  source  of  all  the  sorrow  and  suf- 
fering, the  want  and  woe,  the  sickness  and  death, 
that  fill  the  world.  It  is  sm.  In  the  light  they 
shed  upon  the  works  and  ways  of  God,  we  see 
existence  to  be  an  inestimable  blessing.  The  in- 
finite justice  and  mercy  of  the  divine  government 
are  brought  into  perfect  harmony.  The  incarna- 
tion and  sacrifice  of  the  Lamb  of  God,  and  the 
mission  and  ofiices  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  restoring 
the  image  of  God  to  the  soul  and  fitting  it  for  his 
blissful  presence,  are  presented  to  our  wondering 
view.  The  ways  of  Providence,  however  inscru- 
table, become  luminous  to  the  eye  of  faith.     The 


INFLUENCE    OF    THE    BIBLE.  49 

present  becomes  the  narrow,  dark  vestibule  of  our 
true  life,  opening  into  a  temple  of  which  the  Lord 
God  Almighty  and  the  Lamb  are  the  light,  and 
into  which  "nothing  can  enter  that  defileth,  or 
w^orketh  abomination,  or  maketh  a  lie." 

Were  the  divine  authority  of  the  Bible  set  aside 
and  the  hope  of  immortality  which  it  brings  to 
light  proved  to  be  baseless,  we  should  have  left  the 
most  extraordinary  delusion  of  which  there  is 
any  account.  For  what  pretended  revelation 
can  show  such  an  array  of  unimpeached  and  un- 
impeachable testimony  in  favour  of  a  primitive 
faith  in  its  genuineness  ?  What  other  picture  of 
man  was  ever  drawn  which  displayed  a  like 
knowledge  of  his  moral '  and  spiritual  nature  ? 
From  what  other  source  have  ever  flowed  such 
gentle,  elevating,  humanizing  influences  as  that 
living  fountain  supplies?  What  other  rules  of 
moral  right  and  duty  have  been  revealed  which 
are  so  uniform,  so  well  adapted  to  mankind  in 
their  present  state  and  so  universally  acknow- 
ledged as  the  basis  of  all  enlightened  legislation 
and  government  ?  What  system  of  fabulous  or  spu- 
rious religion  has  ever  done  for  any  portion  of  the 
race  what  the  Bible  has  done  for  woman  alone, — ^to 


50  ADAPTATION   OF    THE    BIBLE. 

say  nothing  of  the  general  preempts  and  duties 
which  it  inculcates,  and  which,  if  properly  regarded, 
would  make  a  paradise  of  earth  and  an  angel  of 
man. 

No  theory  of  inspiration,  no  obscurity  in  the 
doctrines  or  language  of  Holy  Scripture,  no  mys- 
tery of  divine  Providence,  asks  so  much  of  our  faith 
as  he  asks  who  requires  us  to  believe  that  such  a 
book  has  not  a  divine  origin  and  authority. 

There  are  two  or  three  incidental  thoughts 
which  I  may  be  allowed  to  introduce  in  this  con^ 
nection. 

1.  The  Bible  is  marvellously  fitted  to  the  needs 
and  capacities  of  the  bulk  of  men.  It  is  a  re- 
pository of  truth  in  which  such  minds  as  those  of 
Lord  Bacon,  Sir  Isaac  Newton,  Jeremy  Taylor  and 
Sir  Matthew  Hale,  monumental  men,  standing,  it 
may  be,  centuries  apart,  and  conspicuous  among 
many  millions,  have  found  inexhaustible  treasures. 
But  the  common  walks  of  life  are  thickly  set  with 
the  weary  and  heavy-laden,  the  sick  and  suffering, 
the  tempted  and  the  fallen.  To  such  this  blessed 
volume  opens  a  perennial  fountain  of  hope  and  joy 
and  peace.  It  supplies  strength  and  courage  for 
the  conflicts  of  life.     It  points  the  tired  pilgrim 


EMPIRE    OF    FAITH.  51 

to  his  rest  at  home.  It  is  emphatically  the  poor 
man's  blessing. 

It  has  been  beautifully  said  that  the  empire  of 
religious  faith  is  not  in  cities  or  courts,  nor  in  the 
strife  and  bustle  of  worldly  enterprise.  "  She 
passes  by  the  gates  of  the  proud,  and  enters;  a 
gracious  and  welcome  guest,  into  the  dwellings  of 
the  humble  and  poor.  She  finds  ready  adherents 
among  those  whom  we  may  suppose  the  shepherds 
on  the  plains  of  Bethlehem  to  represent.  Christ  is 
the  desire  of  the  simple  heart.  His  truth  answers 
its  mysterious  questions,  solves  its  perplexities 
and  gives  meaning  to  its  sublimes t  aspirations. 
It  is  recognised  and  embraced,  because  it  meets 
the  holiest  desires  of  the  soul.  The  angels'  song 
is  no  longer  heard,  and  the  star  which  guided  the 
wise  men  has  faded  from  the  sky.  But  the 
divinely-communicated  instincts  which  led  the 
::hepherds  and  sages  to  give  heed  to  heavenly 
manifestations  still  remain;  and,  instead  of  the 
vanished  star  in  that  far  distance,  through  all  the 
dark,  experiences  of  intervening  ages  shines  the 
ever-increasing  light  of  the  gospel  of  Christ." 

2.  The  Scriptures,  even  without  any  living 
preacher,  are  able  to  make  men  wise  unto  salva- 


52  PORTABILITY   OF    THE    BIBLE. 

tion.  In  a  history  of  the  missionary  work  in 
Madagascar,  we  are  informed  that  when  the  mis- 
sionaries were  all  driven  from  the  island  the  native 
converts  were  without  any  religious  teacher,  but 
relied  for  spiritual  guidance  on  scraps  of  the 
Bible  carried  in  their  memories  or  about  their 
persons.  They  dared  not  appear  as  Christians; 
but,  by  the  silent  power  of  the  leaven  of  truth 
already  diffused,  their  number  was  increased  ten- 
fold in  a  few  years.  A  still  more  striking  illus- 
tration of  the  same  principle  is  furnished  in  the 
history  of  the  mutineers  of  the  ship  Bounty. 

3.  It  is  worthy  of  remark  that  the  Bible  is  so 
portable  a  volume.  Rich  as  it  is  in  history,  litera- 
ture, geography,  poetry,  narrative  and  theology, 
it  is  for  a  Sunday-school  child  to  wrap  up  in  his 
tidy  handkerchief  or  the  labourer  to  take  with 
him  into  the  field  or  the  workshop.  The  statutes 
of  England  are  said  to  occupy  sixty  folio  volumes, 
and  the  various  decisions  of  courts  upon  them  to  ten 
or  twenty  times  that  number  of  volumes ;  but  in  this 
convenient  pocket-manual  we  have  a  code  of  per- 
fect laws  applicable  to  every  possible  contingency 
of  human  relation  and  condition,  and  at  the  same 
time   there   accompanies   us   an   interpreter   and 


PEKMANENCY   OF    THE    BIBLE.  53 

judge,  who,  if  its  aid  is  honestly  invoked,  will 
unerringly  decide  every  doubtful  case. 

4.  Notwithstanding  the  variety  of  subjects  of 
which  the  Bible  treats,  the  different  characters, 
conditions  and  habits  of  the  authors  or  compilers  of 
its  several  books,  and  the  ages  which  intervened 
between  the  dates  of  their  composition  or  publi- 
cation, there  has  never  been  detected  any  import- 
ant deviation  from  one  straight  line  of  doctrinal 
and  preceptive  truth.  All  its  parts  are  consistent, 
all  its  teachings  uniform, — its  requirements 
neither  relaxed  nor  modified.  Can  a  volume  be 
produced  to  match  it  in  these  respects,  or  in  any 
one  of  them? 

"  The  Bible  might  almost  be  compared  to  a 
high  mountain,  around  the  base  and  on  the  sides 
of  which  cities  have  been  founded  and  decayed 
and  States  have  sprung  up  and  dissolved,  leaving 
behind  them  deserted  ruins,  or  peoples  made  up  of 
numberless  compositions  of  the  conquerors  and 
conquered  of  many  generations,  who  may  be  very 
valiant,  chivalrous  and  well  governed,  but  are  not 
living  representatives,  as  a  whole,  of  the  original 
population.  It  might  be  very  well  for  the  inform- 
ation of  modern  nations,  who  live  at  too  remote 

5* 


54  AGE   OF   THE   BIBLE. 

a  distance  from  the  mountain  to  be  able  to  ap- 
proach it,  that  there  should  exist  local  literature 
of  various  kinds,  in  prose  and  verse,  in  which  the 
existence  and  exact  position  of  that  prominent 
feature  in  the  near  landscape  had  been  frequently 
attested.  But  assuredly  no  proof  of  the  grandeur 
of  the  scene,  of  the  stupendous  effects  of  volcanic 
agency,  of  the  awe  inspired  by  the  veil  which 
hides  the  summit  from  view, — no  description  of 
the  extent  of  ground  it  covers,  and  the  probable 
depths  to  which  so  great  a  mass  must  strike  down 
its  organic  influence, — can  ever  be  so  telling  as  the 
silent  testimony  which  the  mountain  itself  must 
afford  the  spectator.  No  man  who  has  once  seen 
it  will  deny  that  it  is  older  than  all  the  cities 
which  were  built  upon  it, — than  all  the  genera- 
tions whose  bones  are  mingling  with  its  dust.  It 
will  be  too  much  for  human  nature  to  deny,  after 
a  view  of  it,  that  it  was  made  when  the  rest  of 
the  world  was  made,  and  that  whoever  created  the 
earth  formed  that  mountain.  So  it  is  with  the 
Bible."* 


*  "  The  Pentateuch  its  Own  Witne8s."--Norrisian  Prize  Essay, 
1858,  by  Rev.  William  Ayerst. 


AGE   OF   THE   BIBLE.  55 

The  storm  which  shakes  the  oak  only  loosens 
the  earth  around  its  roots,  and  its  violence  enables 
the  tree  to  strike  them  deeper  in  the  soil.  So 
it  is  that  Scripture  has  gloriously  surmounted 
every  trial.  "There  gathers  around  it  a  dense 
^  cloud  of  witnesses/  from  the  ruins  of  Nineveh 
and  the  valleys  of  the  Nile,  from  the  slabs  and 
bas-reliefs  of  Sennacherib  and  the  tombs  and 
monuments  of  Pharaoh,  from  rolls  of  Chaldee 
paraphrasts  and  Syrian  versionists,  from  the  cells 
and  libraries  of  monastic  scribes  and  the  dry  and 
dusty  labours  of  scholars  and  antiquaries." 

Our  present  Bibles  are  undiluted  by  the  lapse 
of  ages.  "These  oracles,  written  amidst  such 
strange  diversity  of  time,  place  and  condition, — 
among  the  sands  and  cliffs  of  Arabia,  the  fields 
and  hills  of  Palestine,  in  the  palaces  of  Babylon, 
and  in  the  dungeons  of  Bome, — have  come  down 
to  us  in  such  unimpaired  fulness  and  accuracy 
that  we  are  placed  as  advantageously  towards  them 
as  the  generation  which  hung  on  the  lips  of  Jesus 
as  he  recited  a  parable  on  the  shores  of  the  Gali- 
lean Lake,  or  those  churches  which  received  from 
Paul  or  Peter  one  of  their  epistles  of  warning 
exposition." 


56  PERPLEXING   QUESTION. 

"Yes!  The  river  of  life,  which  issues  out  from 
beneath  the  throne  of  God  and  of  the  Lamb,  may, 
as  it  flows  through  so  many  countries,  sometimes 
bear  with  it  the  earthly  evidences  of  its  checkered 
progress;  but  the  great  volume  of  its  water  has 
neither  been  dimmed  in  its  transparency  nor  bereft 
of  its  healing  virtue."* 

A  perplexing  question  is  sometimes  raised, 
when  the  claims  of  the  Christian  religion  are  dis- 
cussed, why  so  small  a  portion  of  mankind  have 
embraced  it.  As  an  evidence  of  its  truth,  we  refer 
to  many  wise  and  learned  men  in  the  successive 
ages  of  the  world  who  have  lived  .and  died  in 
the  full  belief  of  its  doctrines.  We  ask.  How  could 
such  men  as  Lord  Bacon,  Sir  William  Jones  and 
Chief-Justice  Hale  be  imposed  upon  by  a  false 
religion,  and  how  could  such  multitudes  of  intel- 
ligent men  and  women  throughout  Christendom 
fall  into  the  same  delusion  ?  The  reply  is  some- 
times made  with  an  air  of  triumph  that  other 
minds,  equally  enlightened  and  philosophic,  have 
rejected  Christianity,  and  that  in  point  of  numbers 
the   Christian  faith  ranks  among  its    disciples  a 

*  North  British  Review. 


PERPLEXING    QUESTION.  57 

very  insignificant  minority  of  the  human  race. 
However  specious  such  a  reply  may  be,  it  is  very 
shallow.  To  determine  its  force,  we  must  be 
satisfied,  in  regard  to  the  first  position,  that  the 
minds  of  those  who  reject  the  Christian  system 
are  in  all  respects  equally  competent  to  judge  of 
its  claims  as  the  minds  of  those  who  believe  it. 

Two  persons  may  look  at  the  same  object  and 
form  entirely  different  opinions  of  its  size,  colour, 
proportions,  &c. ;  but  whether  one  opinion  is  as 
good  as  another  depends  upon  the  organ  and  me- 
dium of  vision  and  the  various  circumstances  that 
may  prejudice  or  distort  them.  One  jury  may 
reject  evidence  and  acquit  an  offender  while 
another  would  receive  and  weigh  the  same 
evidence  and  convict  him.  It  would  not  do  to 
say  that  one  verdict  was  as  likely  to  be  right  as 
the  other.  We  must  have  juries  alike  and  evi- 
dence alike  in  order  to  have  opposite  verdicts 
balance  each  other.  Sir  Isaac  Newton  receives 
Christianity  as  a  revelation  from  God.  Voltaire 
rejects  it.  Shall  we  consider  the  question  of  its 
truth  or  falsehood,  so  far  as  these  two  minds  are 
concerned,  in  equilibrium  ?  Surely  not.  The  com- 
parative strength,  clearness  and  maturity  of  their 


58  REQUISITES    TO   RIGHT   JUDGMENT. 

minds  respectively  must  be  determined.  What 
was  the  comparative  value  of  their  judgment  on 
subjects  purely  philosophical  and  not  connected 
with  religious  belief?  What  degree  of  confidence 
was  felt  in  their  reasonings  and  deductions  in  re- 
spect to  matters  of  pure  science  ?  Which  of  them 
would  command  the  greatest  degree  of  confi- 
dence in  their  judgment  on  moral  subjects  apart 
from  revelation  ?  As  the  intellect  and  the  moral 
feelings  are  intimately  associated,  Ave  must  ascer- 
tain their  position  in  this  respect.  Will  they  be 
likely  to  look  upon  the  evidence  with  equal  candour 
and  to  w^eigh  it  with  equal  caution  ?  Or  will  one 
be  prepared,  by  an  obliquity  of  moral  vision,  to  see 
only  deformity  and  disproportion,  where  the  other, 
with  a  rectitude  of  moral  perception,  will  discern 
symmetry  and  grace  ?  And,  if  so,  shall  their  judg- 
ments be  set  over  against  each  other  as  of  equal 
value  ? 

We  do  not  say,  in  this  connection,  thaf  the  recep- 
tion or  rejection  of  Christianity  is  an  affair  of  the 
heart  rather  than  of  the  intellect.  The  position  is 
true,  and  is  a  sufficient  answ^er  to  all  the  cavils  of 
vskeptics  and  infidels ;  but  w^e  take  it  simply  in  reply 
to  the  proposition  that  men  of  great  minds  have  re- 


VALUE    OF   OPINIONS.  59 

jected  it  and  that  this  neutralizes  the  force  of  the 
argument  that  great  minds  have  received  it.  We 
say  it  has  no  such  neutralizing  effect  till  the  receiv- 
ing and  rejecting  minds  are  shown  to  have  some 
equality.  We  would  not  put  an  honest  citizen's 
opinion  of  the  law  against  a  convict's,  nor  a  de- 
cision of  Chief-Justice  Marshall  against  that  of  a 
country  squire. 

Yoltaire  and  Newton  are  as  wide  apart  in  their 
capacity  to  weigh  evidence  on  moral  subjects  as 
are  either  of  the  parties  we  have  named;  and,  of 
course,  it  is  no  sufficient  answer  to  the  argument 
that  mighty  intellects  have  submitted  to  the 
gospel  to  say  that  other  mighty  intellects  have 
rejected  it.* 

*  In  comprehensiveness  of  views,- logical  power  and  vast  eru- 
dition, few  men  of  the  present  age  can  claim,  a  place  above  the  late 
Dr.  J.  Addison  Alexander.  At  twelve  years  of  age  he  was  familiar 
with  Arabic  and  had  read  the  Koran  in  that  language.  AVith  most 
of  the  ancient  Oriental  and  with  all  modern  languages  he  was  en- 
tirely familiar,  and  not  only  or  chiefly  as  a  linguist,  but  as  a  scholar. 
His  power  to  grasp  a  subject  in  all  its  relations  and  bearings  was 
extraordinary;  and  though  possessed  of  a  vigorous  and  prolific 
imagination,  an  extraordinary  command  of  words  and  exquisite 
skill  in  adapting  them  exactly  to  his  use,  there  was  a  notable 
simplicity  and  modesty  in  all  the  productions  of  his  pen.  He  was 
a  great  man  among  men,  but  became  as  a  little  child  when  the 
things  of  the  kingdom  of  God  were  the  subjects  of  his  thought.  " 
One  who  was  personally  and  professionally  intimate  with  him 


60  REQUISITES    TO   RIGHT    JUDGMENT. 

As  to  the  second  position, — viz.,  that  but  a  small 
proportion  of  the  humah  race  acknowledges  the 
Christian  system, — the  fact  can  be  easily  explained 
without  any  impeachment  of  its  claims.  Of  the 
ten  hundred  millions  composing  the  human  family, 
seven-tenths,  probably,  have  never  seen  nor  heard  of 
the  text-book  of  Christianity  or  the  first  word  in 
support  of  its  divine  origin.  And  of  the  rest,  the 
large  majority  have  given  it  but  a  passing  thought, 
dismissing  it  with  a  careless  indifference  as  an 
unwelcome,  if  not  an  unworthy,  subject  of  their 
attention.  Even  if  it  could  be  shown  that  of  a 
thousand  individuals  of  equal  intellectual  com- 
petency to  decide  the  point,  nine  hundred  and 
ninety-nine  had  decided  against  it,  it  would  not 
necessarily  follow  that  the  thousandth  man  was 
in  error,  for  he  may  have  examined  the  subject 
under  advantages  not  enjoyed  by  the  others. 

But,  above  and  beyond  all  this,  the  power  to 


says,  "  In  all  my  intercourse  with  men,  both  in  this  country  and 
Europe,'  I  never  met  with  one  having  such  a  combination  of 
wonderful  gifts.  The  grace  of  God  most  to  be  admired  was  that, 
though  of  necessity  perfectly  familiar  with  all  the  forms  of  error 
held  by  the  enemies  of  the  truth,  and  especially  the  most  insidious 
one  of  criticism,  he  had  a  most  simple*  childlike  faith  in  the 
Scriptures,  and  the  deepest  reverence  for  the  word  of  God." 


CONDITION   OF   THE    MIND.  61 

judge  of  the  truth  of  a  system  which  professes  to 
have  come  from  God  and  to  be  concerned  exclu- 
sively with  the  moral  relations  and  responsibilities 
of  man  as  a  subject  of  God's  moral  government, 
must  be  essentially  a  moral  power.  A  blind  man 
cannot  judge  of  colours,  nor  a  deaf  man  of  musical 
sounds;  neither  can  one  whose  affections  are 
alienated  from  God,  and  whose  whole  moral  nature 
is  corrupt  and  defiled  by  sin,  jtidge  justly  of  a  dis- 
pensation which  reveals  to  him  his  own  character, 
fixes  upon  him  the  deepest  guilt,  and  threatens 
him  with  deserved  punishment.  He  must  be 
endued  with  power  to  discern  the  beauty  of  holi- 
ness and  the  deformity  and  malignity  of  sin,  before 
he  is  competent  to  such  a  task;  and  this  power  is 
the  free  and  gracious  gift  of  the  divine  Being. 

Those  who  have  never  carefully  reflected  on 
the  subject  are  not  aware,  probably,  of  the  extent 
to  which  the  intellectual  perceptions  are  clouded 
and  perverted  by  the  weakness  or  disorder  of  the 
moral  faculties.  As  a  farthing  rushlight  in  a  dark 
passage  gives  him  who  has  it  the  advantage  of 
another  (and  perhaps  a  wiser)  man  who  gropes  m 
darkness,  so  he  who  has  but  a  glimpse  of  the 
simplest  truth  of  revelation  occupies  a  position 


62  HEATHEN   BLINDNESS. 

far  in  advance  of  a  large  proportion  of  the  human 
family. 

There  is  an  argument  for  the  being  of  a  God 
happily  adapted  to  very  mean  capacities  and 
shallow  reasoners.  It  is  familiar  to  you.  Any 
thing  made — a  pin,  a  watch  or  a  world — must  have 
had  a  maker.  A  very  inferior  mind  may  perceive 
something  of  the  force  of  such  an  argument  for 
the  existence  of  God;  but  we  need  not  say  what 
very  low  and  gross  conceptions  even  of  his  natural 
attributes  might  consist  with  such  perceptions. 
What  could  such  a  one  comprehend  of  the  dis- 
tances, motions  and  changes  of  the  heavenly 
bodies  ? 

Suppose  we  tell  him  that,  by  means  of  an  in- 
strument called  a  telescope,  the  caverns  of  the 
moon  can  be  measured,  and  that  so  vast  is  the 
field  of  vision  over  which  one  of  these  instruments 
sweeps  that  if  the  Dog-star  were  to  attempt  to 
elude  its  grasp,  and  were  to  travel  at  the  rate  of 
twelve  milhons  of  miles  in  a  minute,  it  would  take 
him  two  thousand  three  hundred  years  to  get 
beyond  its  reach  !  What  idea  would  he  receive  ? 
What  idea  can  any  one  have  of  such  time  and 
distance?     And   yet   the  glimpse   which  such  a 


INCONSISTENCY.  63 

mind  obtains  (by  the  force  of  this  elementary 
argument)  of  the  mere  power  of  God,  elevates 
it  far  above  a  heathen  in  his  native  ignorance. 
For  he  plants  a  tree,  and  when  it  is  grown  he  cuts 
it  down,  and  with  part  of  it  he  makes  a  fire  and 
warms  himself,  with  part  he  roasts  his  meat  or 
bakes  his  bread,  and  of  the  rest  he  makes  a  god. 
even  his  graven  image.  He  falls  down  and  wor- 
ships it,  and  has  not  understanding  enough  to  say, 
"  I  have  burned  part  of  it  in  the  fire,  I  have  baked 
bread  upon  the  coals  thereof,  I  have  roasted  flesh 
and  eaten  it ;  and  shall  I  make  the  residue  thereof 
an  abomination?  Shall  I  fall  down  to  worship 
that  which  cofties  of  a  tree?"  This  besotted  con- 
dition of  the  understanding  is  one  of  the  most 
formidable  obstacles  to  the  enlightenment  of  Pa- 
gan nations  on  spiritual  subjects. 

The  degraded  condition  of  the  heathen  is  as- 
cribed by  an  inspired  apostle  to  their  "  unwilling- 
ness to  retain  God  in  their  knowledge ;"  and  a  little 
observation  will  satisfy  any  one  that  the  state  of 
the  moral  dispositions  must  of  necessity  be  closely 
connected  with  the  functions  of  the  mind.  There 
are  doctrines  of  divine  revelation  which  are  offen- 
sive to  my  pride.     To  receive  them  is  to  put  my- 


64  MORAL   DISQUALIFICATIONS. 

self  on  a  level  with  the  meanest  and  vilest  of  our 
apostate  race.  I  am  asked  to  take  things  upon 
faith  which  it  is  admitted  I  cannot  understand; 
and  what  is  this  but  to  stultify  myself  and  refuse 
to  exercise  the  powers  God  has  given  me?  This 
seems  very  plausible ;  but  does  not  the  mover  of 
these  objections  allow  himself  to  be  brought  into 
such  a  predicament  on  subjects  which  do  not  in- 
volve moral  responsibility?  He  cannot  compre- 
hend how  God's  retributive  justice  as  expressed 
in  the  doctrine  of  the  eternal  punishment  of  the 
wicked,  can  be  reconciled  with  divine  benevolence ; 
and  therefore  he  rejects  it.  Does  he  comprehend 
how  the  acts  of  God's  providential  government 
can  consist  with  infinite  wisdom  and  love  ?  And  if 
not,  does  he  reject  the  idea  of  such  a  government? 
He  cannot  comprehend  the  mystery  of  the  incar- 
nation ;  and 'therefore  he  rejects  it.  Does  he  com- 
prehend other  mysteries,  such  as  that  of  human, 
thought,  or  the  connection  of  the  mind  and  body, 
or  even  the  grosser  phenomena  of  vital  heat  and 
the  flow  of  the  blood?  And  if  not,  does  he  deny 
their  existence  ? 

Rely   upon  it,  that   if  our   moral  perceptions 
and  dispositions  were  not  sadly  perverted,  most 


MORAL    DISQUALIFICATIONS.  ^        65 

of  our  intellectual  perplexities  respecting  our 
relations  to  the  spiritual  world  and  its  laws  and 
government  would  never  have  arisen.  If  the 
Bible  were  less  stern  and  holy  in  its  precepts  and 
doctrines,  its  opposers  would  be  few  and  far  be- 
tween. 

5.  It  cannot  be  denied  that  there  are  persons 
of  intelligence  and  integrity  who  do  not  receive 
the  Bible  as  a  book  of  divine  authority.  How 
far  its  claims  to  such  a  character  have  been  care- 
fully and  candidly  investigated  by  such  persons, 
with  a  desire  (God  being  their  judge)  to  know 
the  truth  and  to  receive  it  in  the  love  of  it,  if  in- 
deed  the  truth  is  there,  is  not  for  us  to  decide. 
If  they  find  the  deep  cravings  of  their  spiritual 
nature  answered  without  such  a  revelation  from 
God  as  this  claims  to  be,  or  if  they  have  clearer 
and  more  consistent  views  of  the  divine  Being 
and  his  attributes  by  the  light  which  is  shed  upon 
them  from  some  other  source,  the  foregoing  argu- 
ment wiU  be,  to  that  extent,  weakened.  But  it 
may  be  safely  afl&i'med  that  in  no  event  can  the 
creature  be  safe  or  happy  in  a  state  of  alienation 
from  the  Creator  or  of  opposition  to  his  laws, — 
that  a  proper  regard  to  those  laws,  as  affecting 

E  6* 


66  AN   APPROPRIATE   PRAYER. 

the  condition  of  our  moral  being,  is  essential  to 
the  perfect  use  and  development  of  our  intellectual 
powers,  and  that  in  the  midst  of  the  dangers  and 
tumults,  the  clouds  and  storms,  of  this  transient 
life,  the  prayer  should  be  ever  on  our  lips, 
"Lead  me  to  the  Rock  that  is  higher  than  I." 


REVERENCE   FOR   THE   BIBLE.  67 


CHAPTER  II. 

How  the  Bible  is  to  he  received — Misconceptions  and  conflicting 
interpretations — Difficulties,  whence  arising  and  hoio  overcome — 
General  concurrence  in  the  teachings  of  Scripture — Obstacles  to 
a  right  understanding  of  what  is  revealed — The  position  of  the 
believer. 

The  divine  authority  of  the  Holy  Scriptures 
being  ascertained,  we  may  be  reasonably  expected 
to  approach  them  with  the  deepest  reverence  and 
humility.  When  the  meekest  of  men  was  called 
into  immediate  communion  with  God,  the  com- 
mand was,  "Put  off  thy  shoes  from  off  thy  feet; 
for  the  place  whereon  thou  standest  is  holy 
ground."  To  consult  the  sacred  oracles  is  an  act 
of  scarcely  less  imposing  solemnity. 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  the  common  use  of 
the  Bible  in  schools  and  families  is  by  no  means 
fitted  to  preserve  even  a  traditional  reverence  for 
it ;  and  yet  it  would  be  a  subject  of  still  deeper 
regret  if  its  circulation  were  restricted  by  any 
human  authority.  The  multiplication  of  copies  and 
their  cheapness  have  put  them  within  the  reach  of 


68  FREEDOM   OF   THE    BIBLE. 

all  who  are  disposed  to  read  them.  And,  while  we 
should  cultivate  in  ourselves  and  others  devout 
reverence  for  their  contents,  we  should  steadfastly 
oppose  any  attempt  to  remedy  the  abuses  to 
which  their  free  distribution  may  expose  them, 
either  by  limiting  their  circulation  or  by  requir- 
ing that  an  authorized  interpretation  should  ac- 
company them  to  prevent  their  perversion.  The 
Holy  Ghost,  who  moved  holy  men  of  old  to  utter 
what  is  therein  recorded,  is  promised  to  guide  the 
meek  and  teachable  into  all  truth.  Instead  of 
looking  to  earthly  sources  for  liberty  to  read  or 
light  to  interpret  the  sacred  oracles,  let  our  prayer 
be  to  the  Supreme  One,  "  Lord,  open  thou  our 
eyes,  that  we  may  behold  wondrous  things  out  of 
thy  law." 

The  Bible  is  a  book  of  mysteries.  It  would  be 
very  strange  (would  it  not  be  ?)  if  a  revelation  of 
the  Creator  to  his  creatures — of  the  Infinite  to  the 
finite — did"  not  contain  some  things  not  to  be  un- 
derstood  by  them.  The  self-existence  of  God  is 
an  unfathomable  mystery.  AU  his  attributes  are 
infinite,  and,  of  course,  incomprehensible  by  any 
finite  mind.  The  less  cannot  contain  the  greater. 
But  Holy  Scripture  does  not  furnish  the  only  re- 


MYSTERIES.  69 

velation  we  have  of  the  character  and  will  of  the 
Supreme  Being.  His  works  of  creation  and  pro- 
vidence exhibit  them  with  an  awful  distinctness ; 
and  they  too  abound  with  inexplicable  phenomena. 
Who  knows  the  source  or  nature  of  the  power 
that  supplies  warmth  to  the  natural  body  or 
propels  the  current  of  its  life  ?  Who  can  explain 
the  connection  between  the  thought  of  the  mind^ 
or  the  decree  of  the  will,  and  the  motion  of  the 
muscles  that  follows  it  as  invariably  as  the 
shadow  follows  the  substance  ?  The  power  and 
the  impotency  of  man;  his  freedom -and  depend- 
ence ;  his  courage  to  go  forward  and  his  ignorance 
of  what  attends  on  his  steps,  are  seeming  incon- 
gruities in  our  nature,  quite  as  inexplicable  as  any 
thing  in  the  duties,  doctrines  or  declarations  which 
are  drawn  from  the  Bible.  So  that  whether  we 
extend  our  inquiries  upward  into  the  moral  and  spi- 
ritual nature  of  man,  or  descend  to  an  examination 
of  the  wonders  in  the  material  and  external  world, 
we  shall  come  back  to  the  Bible  fully  prepared  to 
find  it  crowded  with  mysteries.  The  entrance  of 
sin  into  our  world  by  the  transgression  of  our  first 
parents;  the  effects  of  their  apostasy  upon  the  moral 
relations  and  prospects  of  all  their  posterity;  the 


70  CONFLICTS   OF    OPINION. 

existence  and  influence  of  the  tempter;  the  incar- 
nation and  death  of  the  Son  of  God,  followed  by 
his  resurrection  and  ascension;  the  agency  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  and  the  work  of  converting  and  sanc- 
tifying the  souls  of  men,  are  among  those  mys- 
teries and  are  to  be  received  with  submission  and 
faith. 

Happily  for  us,  the  precepts  which  are  to 
govern  our  conduct,  and  the  promises  of  grace 
and  strength  to  enable  us  to  repent,  believe  and 
obey,  are  so  exceedingly  simple  and  plain  that 
the  peasant,  the  patriarch  and  the  philosopher 
are  alike  able  to  receive  them,  and  the  wayfaring 
man,  though  a  fool,  need  not  err  therein. 

We  may  be  perplexed,  oftentimes,  by  the  con- 
flict of  opinion  among  those  whom  we  cannot  but 
regard  as  the  true  servants  of  God.  Doctrines 
which  seem  to  be  irreconcilable  are  urged  with  an 
earnestness  and  pertinacity  that,  betoken  confi- 
dence in  their  truth  and  importance, — and  by  those, 
too,  for  whose  superior  intelligence  and  eminent 
piety  we  cannot  but  feel  unfeigned  respect.  How 
shall  we  determine  their  claims  to  our  faith? 

There  is  a  promise  from  the  lips  of  the 
divine  teacher  which  comes  most  opportunely  to 


FAITH    AMONG    THE    LOWLY.  71 

our  relief  in  this  extremity : — If  any  man  desires 
to  DO  his  will,  he  shall  know  of  the  doctrine; 
(John  vii.  17;)  that  is,  he  shaU  know  whether  the 
doctrine  proposed,  in  any  case,  is  of  God,  and, 
therefore,  to  be  received.  The  first  requisite,  then, 
to  a  right  judgment  in  matters  of  faith,  is  a  hea.  t 
right  in  the  sight  of  God.  He  who  submits 
meekly  to  the  requirements  of  the  divine  law 
will  not  be  left  to  grope  in  darkness.  Hence  it 
is  that  some  of  the  most  illustrious  examples  of 
godliness — of  that  godliness  which  has  the  pro- 
mise of  the  life  that  now  is,  as  well  as  of  that 
which  is  to  come — are  found  among  the  ignorant 
and  lowly.  "  They  receive  Avith  meekness  the 
engrafted  word,  which  is  able  to  save  their  souls." 
This  state  of  mind  is  favourable  to  an  increase  of 
light.  The  glory  of  the  divine  character,  the  ex- 
cellence of  the  divine  law  and  the  riches  of  divine 
grace  are  seen  by  such  persons  with  surprising  dis- 
tinctness. Contrary  to  our  experience  in  the  vision 
of  material  things,  it  would  seem  that  the  clearest 
medium  for  discovering  the  magnitude  and  rela- 
tions of  spiritual  objects  is  in  the  valley  of  humi- 
liation. The  deep  things  of  God  are  hidden  from 
the  wise  and  prudent,  and  revealed  to  babes. 


72  PERPLEXITIES. 

It  has  often  been  my  painful  task  to  dislodge 
the  mind  of  a  young  friend  from  a  refuge  of  lies, 
to  which  it  had  betaken  itself  when  hard  pressed 
by  the  power  of  saving  truth.  Instead  of  yielding 
to  the  simple  and  obvious  requirement  of  our 
heave^jly  Father,  "  My  son,  give  me  thine  heart," 
there  is  a  disposition  to  magnify  difficulties  and 
obsl/icles,  and  to  insist  on  reconciling  the  real  or 
supposed  teachings  of  inspiration  with  the  demands 
01  decisions  of  human  reason.  To  take  but  a 
migle  illustration. 

Some  persons  have  perplexed  themselves  greatly 
about  the  divine  attribute  of  omniscience  and  its 
compatibility  with  the  freedom  of  human  actions. 
They  have  asked  me  questions  like  these.  "  If 
God  knows  all  things,  he  foreknows  them,  does 
he  not  ?  And  if  all  things  are  foreknown  they 
must  be  fixed,  must  they  not?  Because  what- 
ever is  foreknown  must  come  to  pass.  And  if 
whatsoever  is  to  come  to  pass  is  fixed  before- 
hand, it  cannot  be  otherwise  than  it  is,  can  it  ?" 
And  they  are  often  conducted  by  these  reasonings 
to  the  conclusion  that  their  own  personal  salvation 
or  perdition  is  among  the  events  unalterably  fixed 
and  not  to  be  affected  by  any  possible  act  or  effort 


PERPLEXITIES.  73 

on  their  part.  Such  persons  are  seldom  aware 
to  what  extent  these  cavils  result  from  pride  and 
unbelief.  And  they  are  always  surprised  to  find, 
when  through  grace  they  are  adopted  into  God's 
family,  how  suddenly  such  clouds  of  doubt  and 
idle  speculation  clear  away  and  a  serene  and  pure 
light  shines  upon  what  were  once  the  darkest 
mysteries. 

I  well  remember  a  young  friend  in  one  of  my 
Bible-classes  whose  pride  of  intellect  was  as 
obvious  as  any  feature  of  her  face,  and  who 
stubbornly  insisted  that  it  was  no  fault  of  her's 
that  she  was  not  a  Christian.  In  the  course  of 
many  protracted  interviews  with  her,  she  took 
such  positions  as  these  : — 

1.  God  might  have  prevented  sin  if  he  pleased; 
and  that  he  did  not,  plainly  shows  that  he  prefers 
to  have  it  in  the  world.  Hence,  that  I  should  be 
a  sinner  is  his  choice,  not  mine.  If  he  desires  to 
make  me  different  from  what  I  am,  he  can  easily 
do  it. 

(Would  it  not  be  against  your  will  ?) 

2.  It  is  not  my  choice  to  hve.  I  did  not  con- 
sent to  existence.     I  am  what  I  was  made ;  and 


74  PERPLEXITIES. 

He  who  made  me  what  I  am  will  do  with  me  what 
he  pleases. 

(It  is  his  pleasure  that  you  should  love  and 
serve  him,  and  so  be  happy ;  but  he  leaves  it  to 
your  choice.) 

3.  There  are  as  good  people  out  of  the  church 
as  in  it.  Many  intelligent  and  benevolent  persons 
reject  what  are  called  orthodox  doctrines. 

(We  have  a  higher  standard  of  duty  than  the 
example  or  opinion  of  others.) 

4.  I  cannot  believe  that  a  benevolent  being 
would  have  brought  me  into  the  world  with 
capacities  for  exquisite  enjoyment  or  suffering, 
and  after  a  few  years  would  consign  me  to  end- 
less wretchedness. 

(The  being  who  gives  us  existence  has  made 
all  possible  provision  for  our  highest  happiness.) 

5.  We  are  not  the  authors  of  our  belief. 
Propositions  are  made  to  us,  and  our  faith  is 
solicited.  Our  minds  are  so  constituted  that 
some  evidence  is  needful  to  excite  our  faith,  (un- 
less the  proposition  is  self-evident;)  and  as  that 
evidence  affects  us  we  believe  or  withhold  our 
belief,  and  are  no  more  responsible  for  our  rejec- 
tion  or   admission  of  it  than  for  believing  that 


CAVILS.  75 

white  is  white,  or  for  not  believing  that  it  is  blue 
or  red. 

(Will  such  a  plea  be  accepted  from  a  child  who 
does  not  believe  it  is  his  duty  to  obey  his  parents, 
or  from  a  citizen  who  does  not  believe  it  is  his 
duty  to  obey  the  magistrate  ?  The  will  to  believe 
is  not  less  necessary  than  evidence.) 

6.  I  cannot  reconcile  what  the  Bible  tells  me 
about  God  and  his  treatment  of  men — especially 
in  the  Old  Testament  history — with  his  supposed 
moral  attributes. 

(Do  we  know  enough  of  God's  plans  to  pass 
judgment  on  the  consistency  of  what  he  permits  ?) 

When  the  groundlessness  of  all  these  cavils 
had  been  clearly  shown  and  the  duty  of  an 
open  confession  of  Christ  as  the  only  Saviour 
of  sinners  was  urged,  there  was  a  new  array 
of  difficulties  : — 

1.  A  profession  of  religion  is  not  necessary  to 
being  a  Christian.  I  am  willing  to  be  a  disciple 
of  Christ ;  but  I  am  restrained  from  an  open  pro- 
fession of  my  faith,  1.  Because  it  seems  osten- 
tatious to  set  myself  up  to  be  a  Christian;  2.  I 
may  be  self-deceived;  3.  I  may  act  inconsis- 
tently. 


76  IGNORANCE. 

(The  obligation  to  confess  Christ  before  men  is 
imperative.) 

2.  There  are  many  conflicting  opinions  claim- 
ing a  warrant  from  the  Bible  and  held  by  equally 
good  people ;  and  it  is  impossible  to  decide  which 
is  right. 

(If  any  man  will  do  the  will  of  God^  he  shall 
KNOW  of  the  doctrine.) 

3.  I  am  not  good  enough  to  come  to  the  Lord's 
table.  I  am  conscious  that  I  do  not  love  him  to 
the  degree  that  such  an  act  implies. 

(Christ  came  to  call  not  the  righteous,  but 
sinners,  to  repentance.) 

4.  My  brothers  and  sisters  and  associates  are 
quite  as  good  as  I  am, — perhaps  even  better;  and 
a  profession  of  religion  on  my  part  would  be  re- 
garded as  a  tacit  reproach  to  them,  as  though  I 
were  better  or  wiser  than  they. 

(Perhaps  they  are  restrained  from  the  dis- 
charge of  their  duty  by-  the  influence  of  your 
example.) 

The  earnestness  and  pertinacity  with  which 
these  views  were  urged,  and  the  apparent  self- 
satisfaction  which  they  afforded,  cannot  be  de- 
scribed .     The  inadequacy  of  human  "  might  and 


IGNORANCE.  77 

power"  to  cope  with  the  spirit  that  prompted 
them  was  painfully  obvious.  But  in  process  of 
time,  and  by  means  which  Infinite  wisdom  chose, 
the  scales  fell  from  her  eyes, — the  hindrances 
to  a  simple,  saving  faith  disappeared  like  icicles 
before  the  rays  of  an  April  sun.  She  became,  to 
human  appearance,  an  humble,  docile  child  of  God, 
and  before  reaching  womanhood  was  called  to  her 
heavenly  home. 

We  have  found  it  useful,  in  meeting  such  specu- 
lative inquiries,  to  advert  to  the  very  limited 
knowledge  we  possess  of  the  attributes  of  the  Al- 
mighty. The  highest  degree  of  knowledge  attain- 
able by  any  human  being  chiefly  serves  to  show 
how  great  is  his  ignorance.  The  things  with  which 
we  are  most  familiar, — facts  obvious  to  the  senses, — 
are  often  utterly  incomprehensible  as  to  their  nature : 
the  mutual  relations  of  the  material  and  immaterial 
part  of  man — the  phenomena  of  sleep — the  instinct 
of  animals — death.  How  ignorant  is  the  wisest  of 
our  race  of  himself, — of  his  origin,  his  destiny ! 
Each  of  us  carries  in  his  own  bosom  a  world  in 
miniature.  What  conflicts  are  in  progress  there 
between  passions  and  motives,  inclinations  and 
purposes,  hopes  and  fears !  and  how  imperfectly 

7* 


78  IGNORANCE.    ■ 

can  we  trace  their  origin  or  indicate  their  tendency 
and  end !  Little  as  each  man  knows  of  the  working 
of  his  own  mind,  how  much  less  does  he  know  of 
the  exercises  of  his  companion's  mind  ?  He  meets 
perhaps  thousands  daily,  each  of  whom  shuts  up, 
in  inscrutable  secrecy,  his  thoughts  and  emotions. 
And  as  to  the  next  hour  or  moment,  who  knows 
what  it  will  reveal  ?  The  curtain  is  lifted  by  im- 
perceptible degrees,  at  each  of  which  one  and 
another  of  the  vast  purposes  of  the  Infinite  are, 
at  the  same  moment,  unfolded  and  executed.  One 
is  born,  another  dies.  One  is  exalted,  another  is 
abased.  One  nation  rises  to  view,  another  becomes 
extinct.  War,  pestilence  and  famine  sweep  over  the 
earth,  to  be  followed  by  peace,  health  and  plenty. 
And  who  of  the  sons  of  men  knoweth  who  shall 
come  after  him  or  what  shall  be  on  the  morrow  ? 

But  to  the  omniscient  God  there  is  neither 
past  nor  future.  A  thousand  years  are  in  his 
sight  as  one  day,  and  one  day  is  as  a  thousand 
years.  He  knoweth  the  end,  not  merely  of  a  single 
purpose,  act  or  event,  but  of  all  things  from  the 
beginning.  What  we  call  time  is  an  infinitely 
minute  section  of  eternity.  We  measure  it  by 
ages,  years  and  days.     But  yesterday  and   to- 


god's  omniscience.  79 

morrow  have  no  meaning  when  applied  to  the 
being  or  knowledge  of  God.  An  event  which 
happened  a  thousand  years  ago,  and  one  which 
shall  happen  a  thousand  years  hence,  are  both  as 
present  to  him  as  our  consciousness  of  being  is  to 
us.  The  flood  which  destroyed  the  antediluvian 
world,  and  the  fire  that  shall  consume  the  world 
that  now  is,  are  alike  present  realities  to  him. 

And  not  only  is  there  this  all-comprehensive 
present  view  of  all  that  ever  has  been  or  ever 
will  or  can  be,  but  there  are  fixed,  immutable 
laws  by  which  the  relations  of  cause  and  effect 
are  so  adjusted  and  controlled  that  all  the  wise 
and  benevolent  purposes  of  the  Creator  and 
Governor  of  the  universe  are  sure  of  accomj)lish- 
ment.  Of  these  purposes  we  can  have  no  know- 
ledge  except  as  they  are  revealed  by  the  grace 
and  providence  of  God.  The  Sacred  Scriptures, 
which  are  the  gift  of  his  grace,  make  known  to  us, 
so  far  as  we  need  knowledge,  our  origin  and 
character,  our  relations  and  destiny.  We  are 
conscious  of  capacities  and  affections,  of  passions 
and  emotions.  We  realize  the  successive  stages 
of  life  as  we  pass  from  infancy  to  childhood,  to 
youth,  to  manhood  and  to  old  age.     In  this  pro- 


80  SELF-CONTROL. 

gress  our  capacities  are  enlarged;  our  affections 
seek  and  find  sympathy ;  our  passions  and 
emotions  are  excited  by  the  objects  around  us 
and  by  the  reflection  of  our  own  minds.  We  are 
moved  to  do  or  to  abstain  from  doing,  not  by  any 
irresistible  poWer,  but  by  the  influence  of  motives 
presented  to  the  mind,  which  we  can  obey  or 
resist  at  our  pleasure.  It  may  be  that  these 
motives  become  so  powerful  in  some  minds  as 
completely  to  control  the  will ;  but  this  strength 
they  are  allowed  to  acquire.  However  difficult  it 
may  be  for  the  habitual  drunkard  to  abstain  from 
his  cups  after  years  of  indulgence,  he  will  not 
deny  that  the  first,  second  or  third  draught  might 
have  been  refused.  The  passions  of  revenge,  ava- 
rice and  ambition,  which  now  reign  with  such 
terrible  despotism  in  the  soul,  were  once  subordi- 
nate. They  were  infant  Samsons  asleep,  and 
could  have  been  bound  with  a  silken  thread.  It 
was  a  matter  of  choice  with  us,  even  in  our 
childish  pastimes,  whether  we  would  yield  to  a 
selfish  temper,  or  whether  it  should  become  our 
highest  enjoyment  to  contribute  to  the  happiness 
of  others.  If  we  felt  the  weakness  of  our  efforts 
to  resist  the  promptings  of  an   evil  nature,  we 


OUR   POSITION.  81 

were  not  ignorant  of  the  source  of  all  needful 
strength,  nor  of  the  way  of  access  to  it :  so  that 
upon  a  candid  review  of  our  own  life  we  shall 
find  our  sins  lying  at  our  own  door,  and  all 
attempts  to  excuse  or  palliate  them  by  reference 
to  some  unrevealed  purpose  of  God  are  not  only 
vain,  but  very  sinful. 

This  course  of  reasoning  usually  satisfies  the 
inquirer  for  the  time  being,  and  until  the  great 
tempter  again  succeeds  in  persuading  him  to 
charge  God  foolishly. 

The  first  question  we  have  to  ask  ourselves  is, 
whether  we  have  cheerfully  and  heartily  sub- 
mitted our  will  to  the  will  of  God  ?  That  such  a 
state  of  submission  is  not  natural  to  us,  I  need 
not  stop  to  prove.  When  the  first  man  was 
formed  in  the  image  of  God,  his  will  was  perfectly 
coincident  with  the  will  of  God.  When  he 
voluntarily  disobeyed  the  divine  command,  this 
coincidence  ceased,  and  the  image  of  God  in 
which  he  was  created  was  lost.  The  will  of  God 
being  perfect  and  unchangeable,  man  must  con- 
form to  it,  or  he  can  neither  glorify  God  nor  enjoy 
his  favour.  To  reconcile  us  to  God,  to  restore 
this  lost   image,   to  bring  man's  will  once  more 


82  DOCTRINAL    DIVERSITY. 

into  concurrence  with  God's  will,  was  the  grand 
purpose  of  the  incarnation  and  death  of  his  Son, 
our  'Saviour.  As  pur  substitute  and  surety,  he 
rendered  perfect  obedience  to  the  law  by  his  life, 
made  full  atonement  for  our  sins  by  his  suffer- 
ings and  death;  and  by  faith  in  him  we  become 
partakers  of  his  righteousness.  By  his  grace  our 
souls  are  renewed.  The  spirit  of  adoption  is 
given  to  us,  and  our  earnest  inquiry  is,  "  Lord, 
what  wilt  thou  have  me  to  do  ?"  "  Not  as  I  will, 
but  as  thou  wilt,"  expresses  the  prevailing  temper 
of  our  minds.  It  is  all  of  heavenly  origin.  The 
grace  which  enables  us  to  say,  '^  Thy  mil  be 
done !"  is  not  of  ourselves ;  it  is  the  gift  of  God. 
But  we  shall  have  occasion  to  revert  to  this  point 
hereafter,  and  have  introduced  it  here  only  to 
show  what  is  indispensable  to  a  right  under- 
standing of  revealed  truth. 

The  diversity  of  Christian  doctrine,  which  is  so 
perplexing  to  many  persons,  is,  as  I  have  before 
observed,  much  less  than  is  generally  supposed. 
If  we  leave  out  of  view  questions  of  mere  form 
and  ceremony  and  such  as  involve  the  organiza- 
tion and  government  of  a  body  of  disciples,  we 
shall  find  that  a  vast  majority  of  those  who  profess 


DOCTRINAL   AGREEMENT.  83 

the  Protestant  faith  agree  substantially  in  the 
truths  which  are  to  be  believed  in  order  to  salva- 
tion,— though  we  do  not  mean  by  this  expression 
to  affirm  that  none  who  do  not  receive  them  all 
can  be  saved, — and  so  far  as  a  system  of  faith  is 
deducible  from  Holy  Scripture,  it  would  compre- 
hend the  following  particulars, — viz. :  The  supre- 
macy of  the  inspired  volume  as  a  rule  of  faith 
and  duty ;  the  lost  state  of  man  by  nature,  and 
his  exposure  to  endless  punishment  in  a  future 
existence ;  his  recovery  by  the  free,  sovereign 
and  sustaining  grace  of  God,  through  the  atoning 
sacrifice  and  merits  of  a  di^dne  Redeemer  and  by 
the  influence  of  the  Holy  SjDirit;  the  necessity 
of  faith,  repentance  and  holy  living,  with  an  open 
confession  of  the  Saviour  before  men;  and  the 
duty  of  observing  the  ordinances  of  Baptism  and 
the  Lord's  Supper.  The  same  doctrines,  in  a 
somewhat  amplified  form,  are  set  forth,  in  the 
Apostles'  Creed,  (before  mentioned,)  which  now 
stands  in  the  liturgy  of  a  majority  of  churches  in 
Christendom  as  it  stood  fifteen  or  sixteen  hundred 
years  ago,  and  has  been  used  as  a  summary  of 
the  faith  of  the  professed  followers  of  Christ  from 
that  day  to  this.     It  may  be  well  to  bear  in  mind 


84  SOURCE    OF   OPINIONS. 

that  those  who  receive  in  true  faith  the  doctrines 
taught  in  either  of  the  summaries  to  which  we 
have  referred  have  in  company  with  them  seven- 
eighths  of  the  religious  professors  in  Christendom : 
so  that  an  honest  inquirer  after  truth  may  regard 
any  apparent  diversity  of  doctrine  among  the 
avowed  disciples  of  Christ  as  a  matter  of  com- 
paratively littje  consequence.  Such  diversity 
must  be  ascribed  to  the  imperfection  of  human 
judgment  rather  than  to  any  want  of  harmony  or 
consistency  in  the  teachings  of  Holy  Scripture. 

In  the  study  of  Scripture,  people  are  very  apt 
to  hold  to  some  opinions  derived  perhaps  they 
know  not  whence;  and  whatever  they  find  in 
support  of  these  they  readily  receive,  while 
whatever  is  contrary  to  them  they  doubt  or 
reject.  In  a  free  Christian  country  like  our's,  it 
is  rare  to  find  persons  who  have  not  some  notion 
of  religious  truth :  it  is  by  no  meatus  rare,  how- 
ever, to  find  those  who  hold  fast  religious  opinions 
which  they  have  not  only  never  examined  by  the 
light  of  Scripture,  but  for  which  they  can  give 
no  better  authority  than  that  "some  one  told 
them  so."  ^ 

To  have  our  views  rooted  and  grounded,  we  need, 


PREJUDICE.  85 

in  the  first  place,  a  supreme,  unquestioning  defer- 
ence to  Holy  Scripture  as  a  rule  of  faith;  and, 
secondly,  a  clear  conviction  that  what  we  believe 
is  read  therein  or  may  be  proved  thereby. 

The  first  of  these  requisites  is  often  wanting, 
even  in  those  who  profess  to  receive  the  Scriptures 
as  of  divine  authority.  Instead  of  yielding  faith 
promptly  to  all  their  teachings,  they  accept  only 
so  much  as  is  consonant  with  their  notions  of 
what  is  proper  and  reasonable,  and  regard  the  rest 
as  spurious,  or  interpolated,  or  mistranslated,  or  of 
local  and  temporary  use  and  now  obsolete.  Some 
portions  are  reckoned  among  the  extravagances 
of  Oriental  imagery;  some  as  applicable  only  to 
nations  now  extinct,  and  some  as  pure  fiction:  so 
that,  after  lopping  off  all  these  supposed  excrescen- 
ces, there  is  scarcely  enough  left  of  the  form  and 
life  of  the  original  to  enable  us  to  recognise  it. 

It  is  in  no  such  spirit  as  this  that  the  divine 
oracles  are  to  be  consulted  by  those  who  would 
know  the  truth.  That  they  will  find  doctrines 
there  entirely  beyond  their  comprehension,  we 
admit.  That  they  wiU  find  doctrines  contrary  to 
reason,  or  inconsistent  with  what  we  can  compre- 
hend, we  may  safely  deny. 


86  UNIVERSALISM. 

Most  of  the  erroneous  views  that  prevail  m 
the  world  result  from  a  gross  misuse  of  the  sacred 
volume.  Take,  for  example,  the  doctrine  popularly 
known  as  Universalism.  Its  advocates  present 
God  to  us  as  an  infinitely  merciful  Being,  and 
we  rejoice  to  recognise  him  under  this  attribute. 
They  then  ask,  triumphantly,  if  it  is  possible  to 
suppose  that  he  would  form  and  endow  a  creature 
like  man,  give  him  a  dwelling-place  for  a  few 
brief  years  in  this  world,  with  a  certainty  that  he 
would  sin,  and  then,  for  this  sin,  consign  him  to 
eternal  misery !  The  bare  suggestion  they  pro- 
nounce a  monstrous  libel  on  the  divine  govern- 
ment. To  show  that  it  is  anti-scriptural,  they 
quote  passages  in  which  the  benefits  of  Christ's 
redemption  are  represented  as  commensurate  with 
the  consequences  of  sin: — "As  in  Adam  all  die, 
so  in  Christ  shall  all  be  made  alive ;"  "  That  he, 
(Christ,)  by  the  grace  of  God,  should  taste  death 
for  every  man;"  He  (the  Lord)  is  not  willing 
that  any  should  perish,  but  that  all  should  come 
to  repentance.  When,  in  reply,  passages  are  cited 
which  describe  the  wicked  as  going  away  into 
everlasting  punishment,  and  the  righteous  into 
life  eternal,  they  at  once  refer  us  to  passages  in 


UNIVERSALISM.  87 

which  the  hills  and  mountains  are  spoken  of  as 
everlasting,  the  word  being  used  to  express 
stability  or  continuance,  not  endless  duration. 
And  such  expressions  as  "  outer  darkness,  where 
shall  be  weeping  and  gnashing  of  teeth,"  "Bver- 
lasting  fire  prepared  for  the  devil  and  his  angels," 
and  hell,  "where  their  worm  dieth  not  and  the 
fire  is  not  quenched,"  are  regarded  as  nothing  more 
than  highly  figurative  expressions,  to  denote  re- 
morse and  other  sufferings  which  wicked  men  ex- 
perience, but  which  terminate  at  the  grave.  It 
will  be  observed  that  this  is  the  judgment  which 
offenders  pass  upon  the  character  and  purposes 
of  the  government  which  they  have  abused,  and 
of  the  justice  and  propriety  of  the  law  which 
condemns  them.  Their  position  is  evidently  not 
favourable  to  an  impartial  decision,  even  if  it 
were  only  human  laws  and  magistrates  with 
whom  they  had  to  do.  But  in  the  case  before 
us  the  parties  have  but  a  very  limited  conception 
of  the  high  matters  about  which  they  exercise 
themselves.  The  character  of  the  law  given  is 
revealed  to  them  but  very  partially,  while  of  the 
nature  of  the  law  itself,  and  of  the  interests 
beyond  our  sphere  of  knowledge  that  are    5^*0- 


88  IMPERFECT    KNOWLEDGE. 

tected  by  it,  our  information  is  still  more  limited. 
What  sin  is  in  the  sight  of  a  holy. being,  and 
what  mischief  the  least  sin  works  in  the  adminis- 
tration  of  the  divine  government,  who  can  tell? 
No  philosopher  would  be  bold  enough  to  assert 
what  would  be  the  full  effect  of  impairing  in  the 
slightest  degree  the  exact  order  and  relation  of 
the  elements  which  are  combined  in  the  various 
forms  of  the  visible  creation.  And  yet  there  are 
not  a  few  who  do  not  hesitate  to  sit  in  judgment 
on  the  divine  administration  and  determine  what 
befits  infinite  wisdom  and  benevolence  in  the 
conduct  of  its  affairs. 

If  our  legislature  should  make  it  a  capital 
offence  not  to  take  the  right  hand  in  passing 
over  a  bridge,  we  might  justly  condemn  it  as 
an  unreasonable  and  tyrannical  law;  for  we 
know  the  full  extent  of  the  interests  that  re- 
quire such  a  regulation,  and  of  the  evil  which 
results  from  passing  a  bridge  without  regarding 
it.  It  is  a  subject  wholly  within  our  compre- 
hension ;  and  reason  teaches  us  that  the  penalty 
is  utterly  disproportioned  to  the  offence. 

But  suppose  a  Hottentot,  fresh  from  the  bush, 
should  suddenly  come  upon  a  railroad-track,  and, 


IMPERFECT    KNOWLEDGE.  89 

without  knowing  at  all  the  use  of  it,  should  be 
told  that  to  lay  a  rail  across  it,  or  to  put  any  ob- 
struction in  the  way,  was  a  capital  offence:  he 
would  be  very  likely  to  regard  it  in  the  same 
light  as  we  would  a  like  penalty  for  violating  the 
bridge-law.  But  let  him  see  a  locomotive,  with 
its  train  of  ten  or  twelve  cars  freighted  with 
many  hundreds  of  men,  women  and  children, 
suddenly  thrown  from  the  track,  and  the  dying 
and  the  dead,  crushed  human  limbs,  broken  tim- 
bers and  twisted  iron  all  piled  together  in  horrible 
confusion  and  ruin,  and  his  views  would  be  mate- 
rially modified.  If  he  should  stand  by  and  see 
the  bleeding,  mutilated  bodies  drawn  out  one 
after  another,  and  witness  the  anguish  of  attend- 
ing relatives  and  friends,  he  would  not  wonder 
why  the  offence  of  obstructing  a  railway  is 
punished  with  such  severity. 

The  question,  what  is  a  just  expression  of 
divine  displeasure  towards  a  transgression  of  the 
divine  law,  cannot  be  determined  without  divine 
knowledge  and  purity.  And  hence  the  conclusions 
of  Universalists  are  not  entitled  to  confidence. 
'*^  Their  rock  is  not  as  our  eock,  our  enemies 
themselves  being  judges." 

8* 


90  PATERNAL   THEORY. 

It  is  a  favourite  conception  of  many  persons 
that  God's  paternal  character  forbids  the  tliought 
that  he  should  inflict  legal  or  judicial  punishment. 
The  most  we  can  anticipate,  they  say,  is  kind  dis- 
cipline. A  popular  magazine  will  ring  the  changes 
on  this  idea  from  month  to  month,  so  veiled  in 
pathos  and  sophistry  that  an  unwary  reader 
would  scarcely  detect  it.  A  "  sensation"-story 
in  a  weekly  periodical  will  slily  inculcate  it  in  de- 
scribing a  fictitious  death-scene.  Objections  to  the 
doctrine  of  the  eternity  of  future  punishment  will 
be  p)it  into  the  mouth  of  a  mourning  mother 
whose  ungodly  son  has  perished  at  sea,  and  to 
her  pathetic  renunciation  of  the  horrible  thought 
that  his  soul  is  lost,  some  uneducated  and  perhaps 
half-witted  bystander  is  made  to  offer  a  weak  and 
utterly  inconclusive  argument. 

Such  views,  proceeding  from  persons  of  intel- 
ligence, refinement  and  influence,  and  urged  in  in- 
timate association  with  humane  and  philanthropic 
sentiments, — not  unmixed,  perhaps,  with  a  spice 
of  satire, — have  a  marked  effect  on  the  popular 
mind. 

It  is,  nevertheless,  true  that  the  denial  of  the 
doctrine  in  question  is   almost  the  uniform  pre- 


FALSE    PREMISES.  91 

cursor  of  a  state  of  general  doubt  and  skepti- 
cism,— especially  in  respect  to  the  nature  and 
desert  of  sin,  and  the  necessity  of  an  atonement 
by  sacrifice.  "  Such  a  denial  involves  the  virtual 
rejection  of  the  moral  government  of  God  and  of 
the  whole  system  of  redemption." 

The  same  may  be  said  of  the  views  which 
errorists  of  various  classes  take  of  God's  method 
of  dealing  with  his  creatures.  They  start  with 
the  assumption  that  there  is  no  such  moral  rela- 
tion between  the  first  man,  Adam,  dnd  any  of  his 
posterity  as  involves  them  in  his  guilt  or  its  con- 
sequences. Hence  they  discard  the  idea  of  the 
depravity  or  utter  unholiness  of  our  original 
nature.  That  men  do  not  love  and  obey  God,  is 
because  their  natural  affections  are  not  properly 
cultivated.  They  are  neglected  and  uneducated  ; 
and,  falling  into  the  strong  currents  of  temptation 
and  evil  association  that  surround  them,  they  are 
carried  hither  and  thither  in  courses  of  sin.  But 
God  is  merciful.  They  are  all  his  creatures.  He 
knows  and  pities  their  weaknesses,  and  he  will 
make  allowances  for  the  defects  of  their  obedience 
and  love.  To  show  them  how  they  should  Hve, 
he   commissioned  an  eminent  prophet,  Jesus  of 


92  FALSE   PREMISES. 

Nazareth,  to  appear  upon  the  earth  and  set  them 
a  perfect  example ;  and  this  prophet  even  yielded 
himself  to  a  martyr's  death,  that  he  might  perfectly 
illustrate  the  duty  of  submission  to  the  divine  will. 
The  great  mystery  of  godliness,  God  manifest  in 
the  flesh ;  the  idea  that  the  justice  of  God  would 
not  only  permit,  hut  appoint,  the  sacrifice  of  a  per- 
fectly innocent  being,  in  order  (as  they  say)  that 
he  might  exercise  his  other  attribute  of  mercy; 
the  doctrine  that  a  poor,  dependent  creature,  like 
man,  cannot  approach  his  Creator,  even  to  ask 
forgiveness  of  his  sins,  without  an  intercessor; 
and  that  to  secure  the  divine  favour  a  supernatural 
change  of  the  whole  moral  nature  is  indispensable  : 
these  and  the  like  doctrines  are  repugnant,  in 
their  view,  to  all  honourable  and  rational  con- 
ceptions of  the  character  and  government  of  God. 
So  that,  in  making  up  their  system  of  religious 
belief,  they  leave  out  what,  in  their  judgment, 
encumbers  and  deforms  a  proper  view  of  the 
Supreme  Being  and  of  his  dispensations  towards 
men,  retaining  only  what  comports  with  their  idea 
of  his  paternal  character  and  manifestations. 

It  is  obvious  that  the  Scriptures  in  this  case 
are  not  consulted  as  an  unerring  record  of  divine 


FALSE    PREMISES.  93 

truth.  Nothing  is  received  on  their  simple 
authority  as  a  matter  of  faith.  So  far  as  they 
teach  what  approves  itself  to  human  judgment, 
they  are  accredited,  but  no  further. 

NoW;  it  will  be  perceived  that  the  position  of 
those  who  receive  Holy  Scripture  as  entirely  and 
altogether  of  divine  authority,  believing  alike 
what  is  and  what  is  not  within  their  comprehen- 
sion, is  far  from  an  arrogant  one.  It  may  be  that 
others,  from  a  different  stand-point,  have  a  wider 
survey  of  the  interests  of  the  universe,  and  of 
the  laws  and  ordinances  that  will  best  subserve 
the  glory  of  its  Creator.  But  we  admit  our 
ignorance,  and  ask  for  light.  We  receive  as  true 
what  we  cannot  understand, — much  less  explain. 
We  are  conscious  of  existence ;  but  why,  how  or 
for  what  end  we  exist,  we  are  very  superficially 
informed.  And  as  to  the  unseen  world,  its  in- 
habitants and  their  modes  of  intercourse,  and  the 
vast  designs  of  infinite  wisdom '  and  power  in 
ordering  the  affairs  of  his  universe,  of  which  the 
earth,  with  its  thousand  millions  of  inhabitants,  is 
but  a  dim  speck, — of  all  these  we  are  profoundly 
ignorant,  except  so  far  as  Holy  Scripture  en- 
lightens us. 


94  OUR    SAFETY. 

That  God  reigns,  that  he  is  supremely  good 
and  wise  and  just,  we  are  assured ;  and  what  his 
purposes  are  we  know,  so  far  as  knowledge  of 
them  is  needful  for  our  safety  and  happiness.  As 
in  the  natural  world  we  are  sufiiciently  cognizant 
of  its  laws  to  protect  and  provide  for  ourselves, 
though  we  are  ignorant  of  ten  thousand  mysteries 
which  those  laws  involve,  so  in  the  spiritual  world 
we  have  light  enough  to  guide  us  to  the  realms 
of  everlasting  day,  though  the  deep  designs  and 
counsels  of  the  Almighty  are  wrapped  in  clouds 
and  darkness  and  will  remain  so  as  long  as  the 
finite  is  less  than  the  infinite. 

But  what  are  clouds  and  darkness,  lightnings 
and  tempests,  to  one  who  stands  securely  on  the 
EocK  that  is  higher  than  all? 


BASIS  OF    CHARACTER.  95 


CHAPTER  III. 

Influence  of  a  divine  revelation  on  intellectual  cJiaracter — Is  there 
an  innate  idea  of  God? — Possible  condition  of  unf alien  man — 
Effect  of  association — Faith  a  means  of  invigorating  the  mental 
and  moral  powers — The  happy  old  man — Sir  Humphry  Davy. 

There  is  one  view  of  the  bearing  of  a  divine 
revelation  upon  human  welfare  which  is  of  great 
interest  to  my  mind.  I  refer  to  its  indispensahle- 
ness  as  the  basis  of  a  symmetrical  moral  and  in- 
tellectual character.  An  objectless,  aimless,  point- 
less life  can  end  in  nothing  great,  or  good,  or 
happy 

"Stability  depends  on  singleness  of  purpose. 
But  the  purpose  must  be  adequate  to  the  absorp- 
tion of  ^^  energies  of  the  mind  and  will.  The 
pursuit  of  a  bubble  or  a  butterfly  with  a  single 
purpose  would  not  produce  stability,  but  fickle-'' 
ness.  The  pursuit  of  some  great  temporal  object 
(hke  the  discovery  of  some  new  principle  of  art 
or  science)  may  give  exclusiveness  of  purpose 
and  prevent  frivolity  and  sloth,  but  it  must  be  a 


96  BASIS    OF    CHARACTER. 

purpose  commanding  all  the  powers  and  faculties, 
the  pursuit  of  some  attainable  but  vast  and  in- 
terminable goodj  that  will  give  perfect  and  per- 
manent stability." 

Assuming  that  the  Creator  of  the  human  mind 
understands  perfectly  its  capacities  and  wants,  we 
cannot  doubt  that,  in  his  infinite  benevolence  and 
wisdom,  he  would  prescribe  laws  for  its  govern- 
ment, the  observance  of  which  would  secure  the 
highest  measure  of  happiness  of  which  its  nature 
is  capable.  And  had  our  first  parents  obeyed  the 
divine  command,  we  are  assured,  they  would  have 
continued  in  the  enjoyment  of  the  divine  favour  to 
the  present  hour,  and  of  course  would  have  been 
steadily  advancing  in  knowledge  and  happiness. 

We  may  have  fancied,  perhaps,  the  exquisite 
satisfaction  with  which  man — the  newly-created 
product  of  the  divine  hand — beheld  the  fair  temple 
which  had  been  built' and  furnished  for  his  abode. 
As  he  surveyed  the  countless  forms  of  joyous  life 
and  immaculate  beauty  which  surrounded  him, — 
and  especially  when  favoured  with  such  intimate 
communion  with  his  Maker  as  was  then  allowed 
him, — the  spontaneous  language  of  his  heart  would 
be  love  and  praise,  and  his  highest  and  holiest 


KNOWLEDGE    OF   GOD.  97 

aspirations  would  be  for  perfect  conformity  to  the 
divine  will.  But  the  scene  suddenly  changes. 
Over  all  that  was  just  now  glowing  with  divine 
radiance  is  spread  the  pall  of  midnight.  Such  a 
transition  is  but  faintly  emblematical  of  the 
change  in  the  circumstances  and  prospects  of  the 
human  soul  when  sin  was  admitted  to  its  secret 
chambers.  The  man  still  retained  capacities  and 
desires  which  assimilated  him  to  his  Maker.  He 
had  power  to  discern  the  wonders  of  this  lower 
creation,  and  to  comprehend  in  some  degree  the 
immeasurable  vastness  of  the  heavenly  bodies 
and  the  laws  which  guide  and  govern  them  in 
their  sublime  courses.  But  as  to  any  knowledge 
of  the  existence  and  attributes  of  the  God  whom 
man  was  made  to  worship,  the  uninstructed  mind 
is  a  perfect  blank.  The  first  and  direst  effect  of 
sin  was  the  alienation  of  the  soul  not  only  from 
the  favour,  but  from  the  knowledge,  of  God. 
Fallen  man  '^  does  not  like  to  retain  God  in  his 
knowledge." 

Curious  investigations  of  this  subject  have 
often  been  made.  The  late  Rev.  Thomas  H,  Galr 
laudet,  whose  name  and  life  were  so  closely  iden- 
tified with  the  instruction  of  deaf-mutes,  was  of 


98  KNOWLEDGE    OF  GOD. 

the  opinion  that  the  notion  of  a  Creator  or  moral 
governor  of  the  universe  does  not  exist  in  the 
mind  anterior  to  instruction.  He  mentions  cases 
to  illustrate  his  views,  of  which  one  was  an  in- 
telligent young  woman,  nineteen  years  of  age, 
whose  parents  were  sure  they  had  succeeded  in 
giving  her  some  idea  of  God,  because  whenever 
the  word  "  God"  was  shown  to  her  in  the  Bible 
she  would  look  very  serious  and  point  reve- 
rentially to  the  sky.  After  a  course  of  instruc- 
tion in  a  school  for  deaf-mutes,  she  became  a  pro- 
fessor of  religion,  but  uniformly  affirmed  that 
before  she  was  nineteen  she  had  no  idea  of  a  soul 
distinct  from  the  body  or  that  would  survive  it, 
and  that  all  her  notions  of  God  were  that  it  was 
some  person  in  the  sky  that  sent  down  the  wind 
and  rain  and  snow  upon  the  earth. 

He  speaks  of  minds  of  the  highest  order  of  in- 
telligence, keenly  observant  of  all  the  concerns 
of  life,  of  acute  sagacity  in  discovering  the  rela- 
tion of  cause  and  effect,  both  in  human  conduct 
and  in  mechanical  contrivances,  and  capable  of 
adapting  means  to  ends  witli  surprising  readiness 
and  ingenuity.  And  when  he  has  asked  them 
what  they  used  to  think  when  they  saw  the  sun 


KNOWLEDGE    OF   GOD.  99 

and  moon  and  stars,  and  the  earth,  and  all  that 
lives  and  grows  upon  it,  and  if  they  never  in- 
quired who  made  them,  or  whence  they  came, 
^' Never,"  has  been  the  uniform  answer. 

So  it  was  in  the  case  of  the  deaf-mute,  Jolin 
Britt,  whose  history  by  Charlotte  Elizabeth  you 
may  have  seen.  After  he**had  been  for  some  time 
under  instruction,  he  pointed  one  day  towards  the 
sun,  and,  making  motions  with  his  hands  like  a 
person  kneading  dough,  he  asked  his  teacher  (by 
signs)  if  she  made  it. 

She  shook  her  head. 

"  Did  your  mother  make  it  ?'' 

"No." 

"Did  Mr.  Shaw  or  Mr.  Roe  make  it,  [referring 
to  two  Protestant  clergymen,]  or  the  priest? 
(meaning  the  Roman  Catholic  priest.)" 

"No." 

"  Then  what  ?  What  ?"  he  inquired,  with  a  frown 
and  stamp  expressive  of  the  utmost  impatience. 
His  teacher  pointed  upwards  with  a  look  of  reve- 
rential solemnity,  and  spelled  the  word  God. 

At  a  later  period  he  said  that  as  to  the  sun, 
"he  could  not  look  at  it  long  enough  to  deter- 
mine how  it  was  made ;  but  the  moon,"  he  said, 


100  EARLY   IMPRESSIONS. 

"is  a  dumpling  sent  rolling  over  the  tops  of  the 
trees,  as  I  send  a  marble  across  the  floor."  And 
as  for  the  stars,  "  they  could  be  cut  out  with  a 
large  pair  of  shears  and  stuck  into  the  sky  with 
the  end  of  the  thumb."  Having  thus  settled  his 
system  of  astronomy,  he  looked  very  happy,  and 
patted  his  breast  with  ^ident  self-applause. 

The  very  early  period  at  which  religious  impres- 
sions are  received  in  the  midst  of  religious  scenes 
and  services  does  not  militate  against  the  doctrine 
that  religious  ideas  {i.e.  ideas  of  the  true  God)  are 
not  naturally  in  the  human  mind.  I  have  before 
me  at  this  moment  a  letter  from  a  dear  friend, 
who  had  suffered  the  loss  of  a  darling  little  boy, 
in  which  he  speaks  of  the  child's  knowledge  of 
religious  truth  with  admiration.  "He  was  but 
two  years  and  four  months  old  when  he  died; 
and  yet  he  had  thought,  knowledge  and  feeling 
about  God.  He  knew  that  God  made  all,  sees 
all,  keeps  all  and  loves  all."  The  child's  grand- 
father, an  illustrious  man  of  God,  made  it  a  prac- 
tice every  day  for  months  to  call  the  child  to  him 
and  say,  "  Now  I  am  going  to  pray  for  you."  He 
would  then  lay  his  hands  on  his  little  head  and 
pray.    He  never  hesitated  a  moment  to  leave  his 


THE    FORSAKEN    PALACE.  101 

play  at  this  call,  and  never  showed  any  weariness 
or  levity.  The  afternoon  before  his  death,  being, 
to  all  appearance,  perfectly  well,  he  cheerfully  gave 
his  father  some  toys  with  which  he  was  playing, 
on  being  told  it  was  God's  day.  Some  time  after, 
he  was  playing  again,  but  suddenly  left  his  play, 
put  a  chair  in  the  middle  of  the  room,  kneeled 
with  a  solemn  air,  and  distinctly  said,  "  Our 
Father  who  art  in  heaven,  hallowed  be  thy 
name;  thy  kingdom  come,  thy  will  be  done. 
Amen."  An  hour  before  he  died,  he  put  up  his 
hands  and  said,  "I  want  to  say  my  prayers." 

There  are  probably  many  cases  parallel  to  this, 
and  even  still  more  remarkable,  which  are  never 
brought  to  public  notice ;  and  they  all  go  to 
show  that  religious  truth  may  be  inculcated  at  a 
very  early  age,  and  that  the  susceptibility  of  just 
impressions  of  duty  to  God  is  much  greater  in 
infant  minds  than  is  generally  supposed, — but  not 
that  a  knowledge  of  him  is  possessed  until  com- 
municated. 

Much  that  is  mysterious  in  man  must  be  as- 
cribed to  the  fact  that  he  is  separated  from  God. 
He  is  like  a  wondrous  palace,  forsaken  of  the  only 
being  that  could  diffuse   light  and   life  and  joy 

9* 


102  THE  FORSAKEN  PALACE. 

through  all  its  magnificent  apartments  :  apply  all 
the. curious,  richly  wrought  furniture  to  its  proper 
use  and  direct  the  whole  fabric  to  the  fulfilment 
of  its  true  destiny.  And  whenever  that  being 
returns  to  the  full  possession  of  it,  all  apparent 
inconsistencies  will  be  reconciled,  ambiguities  ex- 
plained, and  harmony  and  utility  at  once  prevail. 

"  Since  then,  my  God,  thou  hast 
So  brave  a  palace  built,  oh,  dwell  in  it, 
That  it  may  dwell  with  thee  at  last." 

Our  race  is  (we  suppose)  the  lowest  in  the 
scale  of  intellectual  beings.  Whether  it  was 
originally  so  is  more  than  we  can  affirm.  It  is 
impossible  for  us  to  conceive  what  position  we 
might  have  occupied  if  sin  had  not  invaded 
Paradise.  What  we  might  have  known  of  God 
from  his  works  alone,  had  not  our  intellectual 
and  moral  sense  been  perverted  by  sin,  it  is  im- 
possible to  say.  Such  a  union  as  our  nature 
exhibits  of  a  material,  mortal  body  with  an  im- 
material, immortal  soul  we  do  not  know  to  exist 
in  any  other  part  of  the  universe.  What  such  a 
nature  as  man's  in  his  unf alien  state  was  capable 
of  becoming,  we  know  not.  It  is  not  impossible 
that,  but  for  the  apostasy  of   our  first  parents, 


FALLEN    CREATURES.  103 

our  race  might  have  exhibited  to  other  orders  of 
beings  the  spectacle  of  a  wonderful  mode  of  exist- 
ence in  the  simultaneous  developement  of  spiritual 
and  physical  capacities  in  one  and  the  same  indi- 
vidual. The  fact  that  our  blessed  Saviour  as- 
cended from  earth  with  a  body  in  form  like  our's, 
and  that  Moses  and  Elias  appeared  on  the  mount 
of  transfiguration  with  bodily  organs  like  oui*s, 
may  teach  us  what  havoc  sin  made  with  God's 
handiwork  in  the  human  frame,  that  not  only 
sickness  and  suffering  should  accompany  it  all 
the  way  through  life,  but  that,  to  reach  the 
exalted  destiny  to  which  it  may  aspire  through 
redeeming  grace,  it  must  pass  through  the  mys- 
terious— and,  to  nature,  the  revolting — process  of 
death  and  dissolution. 

The  force  of  the  phrase  "fallen  creatures," 
so  often  flippantly  used  in  speaking  of  our  race, 
is  seldom  realized.  Holy  Scripture  represents  us 
as  having  left  the  service  of  the  only  Being  in 
the  universe  who  has  the  supreme  claim  to  our 
love  and  obedience,  to  enter  the  service  of  the 
only  being  in  the  universe  who  has  the  will  and 
(we  consenting)  the  power  to  destroy  us  and 
make  us  miserable  forever.    This  is  a  fall,  indeed ! 


104  THOUGHTS. 

To  construct  from  sucli  a  complete  ruin  a 
temple  for  the  abode  of  a  pure  spirit,  demands 
divine  power  and  skill.  We  are  conscious  of  the 
disorder  and  perverseness  of  our  minds.  It  is  with 
difficulty  that  we  control  our  thoughts ;  they  are  too 
apt  to  control  us.  They  dictate  to  us  what  books  to 
read,  what  amusement  to  seek,  what  company  to  join, 
what  calls  to  make  and  in  what  pursuit  to  engage, 
and  w^e  obey  their  voice.  They  are  excited  by 
whatever  we  see  or  hear.  They  excite  each  other. 
A  crowd  of  them,  evil  and  good,  wise  and  foolish, 
follow  each  other  with  inconceivable  rapidity. 
Now  and  then  one  of  them  fixes  itself  upon  a 
single  object  of  observation,  memory  or  anticipa- 
tion for  a  longer  or  shorter  time,  and  perhaps 
returns  to  the  same  object  again  after  a  brief 
interval,  and  brings  other  thoughts  with  it,  and 
at  lei;igth  the  individual  may  be  so  absorbed 
by  it,  that  the  humour  and  conduct  shall  take 
their  complexion  from  it.  Think  a  moment  of 
the  action  of  your  mind  for  the  past  hour,  and 
see  if  you  cannot  recognise  these  phenomena. 

If  the  object  on  which  they  prefer  to  rest  is 
on  the  whole  worthy,  and  if  the  contemplation 
of  it  is  fitted  to  elevate  and  expand  the  mind,  the 


ASSOCIATION.  105 

effect  will  soon  be  seen;  and  not  less  soon  and 
certainly  if  it  is  unworthy. 

"  He  who  loveth  mean  and  sordid  things  doth 
thereby  become  base  and  vile;  but  a  noble  and 
well-placed  affection  doth  advance  and  improve 
the  spirit  into  a  conformity  with  the  perfections 
which  it  loves.  The  images  of  these  do  frequently 
present  themselves  unto  the  mind,  and,  by  a  secret 
force  and  energy,  insinuate  into  the  very  constitu- 
tion of  the  soul  and  mind  and  fashion  it  unto 
their  own  likeness.  Hence  we  may  see  how 
easily  lovers  and  friends  do  slide  into  the  imita- 
tion of  persons  whom  they  affect,  and  even  before 
they  are  aware  they  begin  to  resemble  them,  not 
only  in  the  more  considerable  instances  of  their 
deportment,  but  also  in  their  voice  and  gesture, 
and  that  which  we  call  their  mien  and  air ;  and 
certainly  we  should  as  well  transcribe  the  virtues 
and  inward  beauties  of  the  soul  if  thet/  were 
objects  and  motives  of  our  love." 

It  was  while  Carey,  the  cobbler,  was  teaching 
a  group  of  children  in  a  village  school  the  division 
of  the  population  of  the  globe  into  pagans,  Moham- 
medans, &c.  that  the  thought  suggested  itself 
which  proved  to  be  the  germ  of  one  of  the  most 


> 


106  BASIS    OF    EDUCATION. 

vast  and  imposing  systems  of  modern  missions. 
The  mind  needs  to  be  drawn  towards  some  object 
fitted  to  give  healthful  exercise  to  its  highest 
powers.  When  one  faculty  is,  unduly  tasked,  or 
when  they  are  all  engaged  on  objects  of  inferior 
interest  or  importance,  the  effect  is  analogous  to 
that  produced  upon  the  body  when  any  of  its 
organs  are  neglected  or  abused :  deformity,  disease 
and  decay  will  ensue. 

What  I  maintain  is  that  a  right  apprehension 
of  the  truths  of  revealed  religion  entertained  at 
your  time  of  life  will  do  more  for  the  healthy 
and  harmonious  developement  of  your  intellectual 
nature  than  all  the  skill  and  labour  of  the  most 
accomplished  educators.  There  are  sciences  the 
study  of  which  is  supposed  to  give  the  pupil 
extraordinary  powers  of  abstraction ;  but,  if  we 
would  have  all  the  faculties  trained  to  the  highest 
use  of  which  they  are  capable,  they  should  be 
employed,  from  the  first,  in  the  contemplation  of 
the  character  and  attributes  of  the  Creator,  ad- 
vancing from  the  rudiments  which  a  little  child 
can  comprehend  to  the  things  into  which  angels 
desire  to  look.  Hence,  independently  of  all  re- 
ligious   considerations,   I   v/ould,    as   an  educator 


POWER   OF    TRUTH.  107 

merely^  desire  that  the  knowledge  of  God,  as  he 
is  revealed  in^Holy  Scripture  and  in  the  works 
of  creation,  should  be  made  the  basis  and  prop 
of  all  intellectual  improvement.  Exercise  of  the 
mental  powers  stimulated  only  or  chiefly  by  the 
love  of  science  or  the  desire  of  fame  must  often- 
times exhaust  and  confound  them.  But  when 
the  human  soul  receives  by  faith  those  doctrines 
of  Holy  Scripture  which  the  unlettered  peasant 
can  understand  as  truly,  if  not  as  fully,  as  the 
profound  philosopher,  a  light  is  struck  within 
that  ruined  temple  which  nothing  can  extinguish. 
What  was  before  mysterious  and  perplexing 
becomes  plain  and  clear,  and  thenceforward  there 
is  a  beautiful  and  healthful  concurrent  develope- 
ment  of  the  whole  intellectual  and  moral  nature. 

Intelligent  and  highly-cultivated  men  are  some- 
times found — men  of  extraordinary  powers  as 
poets,  orators,  mathematicians  and  astronomers — 
who  betray  a  marvellous  weakness  and  muddiness 
of  intellectual  perception  when  discussing  re- 
ligious truth, — not  because  of  any  obscurity  in 
the  object,  but,  as  there  was  no  early  subjection 
of  the  understanding  to  the  influence  of  faith  in 
the  simple  doctrines   of  our  holy  religion,  their 


108  SOURCES   OF   ERROR. 

powers  have  unfolded  unequally,  and  the  deformity 
cannot  be  concealed. 

It  is  for  want  of  understanding  the  force  and 
scope  of  such  doctrines,  and  failing  to  recognise 
their  divine  origin  and  authority,  that  large  num- 
bers of  men  and  women  are  carried  hither  and 
thither  at  the  whim  of  some  impudent  errorist, 
making  a  total  wreck  of  character,  prosperity  and 
peace  in  the  espousal  of  some  inexpressible  ab- 
surdity. Who  that  reads  wisely  and  weighs  well 
the  most  obvious  truths  of  the  Bible  could  possibly 
be  ensnared  by  the  delusion  of  Millerism  or  Irving- 
ism  ?  Who  that  is  capable  of  sober  reasoning  on 
any  principles  of  truth,  in  the  Bible  or  out  of  it, 
could  be  seduced  by  such  preposterous  stories  as 
those  of  Joe  Smith  or  Ann  Lee  ? 

It  cannot  have  escaped  your  observation,  I  pre- 
sume, that  those  who  are  most  ignorant  of  the 
Bible  are  most  easily  duped  by  the  propagators 
of  error.  Untaught  as  they  are  in  the  principles 
and  requirements  of  revealed  religion,  the  mind 
is  prepared  to  receive  and  entertain  the  grossest 
forms  of  superstition  and  delusion.  A  senseless 
repetition  of  words, — perhaps  in  an  unknown 
tongue, — a  round  of  formality,  or  the  mere  count- 


MOTIVES.  109 

ing  of  a  string  of  beads,  is  well  fitted  to  their 
capacity.  The  proposal  to  make  their  salvation 
sure  by  doing  this  or  abstaining  from  that,  with- 
out the  trouble  of  thinking  or  inquiring,  is,  of 
course,  grateful  to  them  -,  and  so  they  commit  the 
cure  and  care  of  their  souls  to  some  priest  of  sin, 
Satan,  or  the  pope,  (it  matters  little  which,)  and 
then  close  their  eyes  and  fold  their  hands  to 
sleep.  It  is  not  impossible,  too,  that  now  and 
then  persons  of  more  enlarged  intellectual  views 
may  be  so  destitute  of  religious  culture,  or  that 
their  religious  capacities  may  have  been  so  dwarfed 
and  weakened  by  neglect,  that  they  will  resort  to 
some  similar  mechanical  process,  and  intrust  their 
immortal  interests  to  the  keeping  of  one  who  has 
enough  to  do  in  working  out  his  own  salvation. 
They  must,  of  course,  lack  the  liberty  which  crea- 
tures of  God  feel  when  God  himself  is  the  supreme 
and  absorbing  object  of  their  faith  and  love — that 
liberty  with  which  Christ  makes  men  free. 

I  need  not  say  to  you  how  closely  the  powers 
and  achievements  of  the  mind  are  identified  with 
the  character  and  force  of  our  moral  principles. 
The  love  of  life  and  the  fear  of  pain  are  instinct- 
ive.    The  dread  of  punishment  restrains  many 

10 


110  MOTIVES. 

from  crimes ;  and  the  apprehension  of  what  may 
follow  makes  death  terrible.  Remove  this  fear, 
and  what  would  not  some  men  do  ?  And  yet  how 
uncertain  such  a  motive  is,  and  how  feeble  it  must 
become  sooner  or  later !  How  many  cases  have 
occurred  (some,  perhaps,  within  your  personal 
knowledge,  and  very  many  of  which  you  have 
heard)  of  persons  who  have  been  led  along  from 
one  stage  of  iniquity  to  another,  emboldened  by 
the  hope  of  eluding  suspicion  or  escaping  detec- 
tion, until  some  audacious  act,  or  perhaps  a  tri- 
vial incident,  has  betrayed  them  into  irretriev- 
able disgrace  and  ruin  !  Not  so  with  the  motive 
which  the  fear  of  God  supplies.  Its  controlling 
power  is  uniform,  permanent  and  universal.  Act- 
ing under  it,  I  am  conscious  that  an  eye  is  upon 
me  from  which  nothing  can  be  concealed.  An 
omniscient,  omnipresent  God  is  with  me  "in  my 
going  out  and  in  my  coming  in,  in  my  lying 
down  and  in  my  rising  up."  To  sin  is  to  offend 
his  infinite  majesty.  It  is  to  pollute  my  own 
soul.  It  is  to  widen  the  chasm  between  me  and 
all  holy  and  happy  beings.  It  is,  in  a  word,  to 
destroy  myself! 

Who  does  not  see  the  incomparable  advantage 


A    SAFEGUARD.  Ill 

of  such  an  element  as  this  in  the  constitution  of 
a  human  character  ?  The  habit  of  judging  of  the 
right  or  wrong  of  any  action  by  direct  reference 
to  the  unerring  standard  of  divine  truth ;  shrink- 
ing instinctively  from  the  temptation  to  sin;  hold- 
ing no  parley  with  the  tempter  nor  weighing  for  a 
moment  the  probabilities  of  exposure,  is  of  ines- 
timable value,  if  it  were  only  for  the  stability  and 
symmetry  it  insures  *to  the  character.  Reflection 
upon  past  hfe,  and  my  observation  of  the  subtle 
ways  in  which  men  are  tempted  to  the  first  wrong 
actj  convince  me  of  the  value  of  a  maxim  which 
I  commend  to  all  my  young  friends ;  and  that  is, 
7iever  to  do  a  things  no  matter  how  trivial^  which  you 
ivoiild  he  tempted  to  deny  if  you  were  questioned  about 
it.  If  it  is  a  case  of  doubtful  morality,  and  you 
feel  disposed  to  ask,  "  Is  there  any  harm  in  doing 
this?''  answer  the  question  by  asking  yourself 
another : — "  Is  there  any  harm  in  letting  it  alone  ?" 
For  a  familiar  example,  if  I  had  the  opportunity  to 
read  a  book,  or  a  newspaper  article,  or  a  letter,  which 
I  should  feel  reluctant  to  acknowledge  I  had  read 
were  I  asked,  this  of  itself  should  deter  me  from 
reading  it.  Or  if  I  were  disposed  to  take  a  walk, 
or  make  a  call  or  an  engagement,  and  should  be  un- 


112  life's  phases. 

willing  to  have  it  known  anywhere  and  by  every- 
body, this  very  unwillingness  is  a  safeguard 
which  I  should  scrupulously  preserve.  Nothing  is 
so  sustaining  and  invigorating  to  the  whole  moral 
and  intellectual  character  as  the  consciousness  of 
perfect  uprightness  in  our  acts  and  motives. 

But  there  is  still  another  aspect  in  which  we 
must  regard  the  influence  of  a  belief  in  divine 
revelation  upon  the  formation  of  character  as  of 
essential  importance.  It  chastens  the  natural  affec- 
tion for  transient  and  unsatisfying  enjoyments.  It 
is  not  to  be  denied  that  there  are  interests  and 
jDleasures  pertaining  to  the  present  world  in  the 
pursuit  of  which  there  is  much  agreeable  excite- 
ment. The  vivacity  and  love  of  frolic  which 
characterize  childhood  are  not  unfrequently  re- 
tained to  mature  age.  To  children  such  disposi- 
tions are  appropriate.  It  is  the  mode  in  which 
their  physical  nature  unfolds  itself.  They  run  and 
dance  and  sing  as  naturally  as  they  eat  and  breathe 
and  sleep.  If  they  have  food,  clothes  and  kind 
treatment,  their  life  is  a  continual  flow  of  animal 
spirits.  God  forbid  that  it  should  not  be  so ! 
And  yet  their  exuberant  spirits  are  curbed,  ai:id 
their  buoyant  and   active   natures  are  subjected 


life's  phases.  113 

to  the  severe,  almost  unnatural,  but  still  needful, 
discipline  of  the  nursery  and  the  school-room. 
And  then  how  often  sickness  overcasts  the  sun- 
niest skies  of  childhood,  and,  if  it  does  not  end 
their  little  pilgrimage,  dooms  them  to  pursue  it 
with  a  saddened  spirit  and  perhaps  a  deformed 
frame,  with  the  probability  of  premature  decay 
and  death!  Beautiful  as  the  world  is  to  the 
healthy  and  gay,  there  is  a  felt  need  of  some- 
thing brighter  and  better  for  such  as  are  limping 
through  it  on  a  crutch,  or  without  eyes  to  see 
the  stars  and  flowers,  or  ears  to  hear  the  birds. 

And,  if  they  pass  this  first  joyous  stage  of 
earthly  existence  without  a  sigh  or  a  pain,  how 
often  there  await  them,  at  the  very  threshold 
of  rnaturer  life,  sorrows  which  no  human  sym- 
pathy can  assuage !  And  then  what  burdens  and 
privations  attend  upon  the  trembling  footsteps  of 
age  !  And  on  what  shall  the  old  man  lean  with 
confidence  and  hope  in  the  absence  of  a  covenant 
God  and  Saviour?  But  with  what  attractive  grace 
and  dignity  does  he  whose  faith  recognises  the 
benevolence  and  tenderness  of  a  Father's  hand, 
bow  to  the  rod  and  even  kiss  the  hand  that 
holds  it ! 

H  10* 


114  THE    HAPPY   OLD    MAN. 

It  is  wonderful  with  what  tenacity  the  memory 
retains  religious  impressions  once  made  upon  it, 
and  what  strength  there  is  in  early  religious 
habits  to  sustain  and  brighten  life  in  the  soul 
when  the  powers  of  body  and  mind  have  fallen 
into  decay.  It  was  my  privilege  once  to  know 
a  gentleman,  formerly  engaged  in  extensive 
mercantile  business,  whose  old  age  furnished 
an  impressive  illustration  of  this  remark.  I 
saw  and  conversed  with  him  in  the  ninety- 
second  year  of  his  age.  His  silvery  hair,  his 
ruddy  complexion  and  soft  unwrinkled  skin 
would  attract  any  one's  attention.  He  had  then 
been  nearly  ten  years  entirely  blind;  but  he 
never  spoke  of  his  sight  as  lost:  it  was  only 
very  "  defective."  He  was  as  happy  as  a  little 
child.  ■  He  could  sing  with  a  clear,  melodious 
voice,  and  often  went  through  favourite  hymns 
and  chants  without  the  mistake  of  a  word  or  a 
note.  Sometimes  in  the  stillness  of  the  night  his 
voice  was  heard  singing  a  chant;  and,  to  show 
that  it  was  not  a  mere  mechanical  exercise,  he 
was  accustomed  to  say,  "Isn't  that  a  noble 
chant?"  or,  "What  a  beautiful  hymn  that  is  !" 

His  mind  dwelt  on  the  most  pleasing  objects ; 


SIR    HUMPHRY   DAVY.         '  115 

as  fragrant  flowers,  the  music  of  birds  or  the  rip- 
ple of  water.  His  fondness  for  children,  and  their's 
for  him,  was  noteworthy.  He  was  accustomed 
to  speak  of  his  wife  (who  had  been  dead  many 
years)  as  still  a  beloved  and  loving  companion, 
offering  nice  things  to  her  at  the  table ;  and,  when 
told  she  was  not  there,  he  would  reply,  "Well, 
I  suppose  she  will  be  back  in  a  minute  or  two." 

Such  a  green  old  age  harmonized  well  with  the 
upright  and  honourable  life  he  had  previously 
led,  and  with  the  immortal  hopes  which  early 
faith  in  the  gospel  of  the  grace  of  God  *liad 
inspired. 

Do  you  wonder  that  your  Christian  friends 
should  be  anxious  to  forearm  you  against  the 
reverses  and  trials  of  which  the  providence  of 
God  forewarns  you?  You  have  heard  of  Sir 
Humphry  Davy,  the  great  philosopher  and 
chemist.  Distinguished  among  the  men  of  his 
time  for  the  extent  and  utility  of  his  scientific 
researches  and  discoveries,  he  enjoyed  an  unusual 
share  of  whatever  ministers  to  earthly  enjoy- 
ment. But  what  is  hi^ testimony  ?  "I  envy  no 
qualities  of  the  mind  or  intellect  in  others,; — nor 
genius  nor  power,  wit  nor  fancy;  but,  if  I  could 


116  SIR   HUMPHRY   DAVY. 

choose  what  would  be  most  delightful  and,  I 
believe,  most  useful  to  me,  I  should  prefer  a  firm 
religious  belief  to  every  other  blessing;  for  it 
makes  life  a  discipKne  of  goodness,  creates  new 
hopes  when  all  earthly  hopes  vanish,  and  thrives 
over  the  decay,  the  destruction  of  existence ;  it  is 
the  most  gorgeous  of  all  lights ;  awakens  life  in 
death,  and  from  corruption  and  ashes  calls  out 
beauty  and  everlasting  glory." 

Happy  they  who  are  seasonably  armed  for  the 
good  fight  of  faith,  that  they  may  lay  hold  on 
eternal  life  and  plant  their  feet  on  the  "  Rock 
that  is  higher  than"  they,  before  the  winds  blow 
and  the  floods  roar ! 


LIFE    IN   PROSPECT.  117 


CHAPTEE  lY. 

A  soliloquy — The  true  end  of  life — Two   classes  of  facts,   and 
representative  cases — The  sea-bird. 

Some  of  you  may,  perhaps,  regard  what  you 
hear  from  the  pulpit  and  from  Christian  friends 
as  all  very  true  and  very  good,  but  still  as  quite 
theoretical.  You  ask  yourself,  "  What  are  i]iQ  facts 
of  my  present  being?  A  bright  morning  opens 
upon  me.  The  air  is  filled  with  the  aroma  of 
flowers  and  the  music  of  birds  and  insects.  My 
life  would  'go  a-Maying  with  nature,  hope  and 
poesy.'     It  would 

'  flash  along 
O'er  airy  cliffs  and  glittering  sands,  "^ 

Like  those  trim  skiffs,  unknown  of  yore, 
On  windy  lakes  and  rivers  wide, 
That  ask  no  aid  of  sail  or  oar. 
That  fear  no  spite  of  wind  or  tide.' 

Must  I  be  denied  what  bees  and  birds  enjoy? 
It  is  indeed  a  beautiful Vorld,  say  what  we  will; 
and,  for  my  part,  I  can  see  no  harm  in  making  the 
most  of  it."     And  this  is  the  very  thing  we  would 


118  STANDARD    OF    VALUE. 

have  our  young  and  gay  friends  do  : — ^'Make  the 
most  of  itr 

Suppose  you  had  an  inch  of  candle  by  which 
to  do  a  winter  evening's  work,  or  a  pound  of 
"bread,  or  a  pint  of  water,  upon  which  to  subsist  as 
you  cling  to  a  piece  of  a  wreck  and  float  upon 
the  mountain-billows  till  you  are  descried  by  a 
passing  vessel  or  drifted  to  land :  you  would  learn 
what  it  means  to  ^^make  the  most  of  a  thing T 
Would  you  ask  how  much  tiipie  you  might  waste 
and  still  have  enough  of  the  remnant  of  your 
candle  left  to  enable  you  to  accomplish  your 
work,  or  how  much  of  your  little  store  of  pro- 
vision yoli  might  consume  and  yet  sufficient 
remain  to  last  till  your  deliverance  comes  ?  Or 
would  you  not  more  wisely  say,  "I  have  a 
certain  and  momentous  work  to  do  in  an  un- 
certain time.  I  have  to  act  in  view  of  a  possible 
exigency  as  if  it  were  a  present  reality.  It  may 
be  that  my  candle  will  be  consumed  just  one 
moment  before  my  task  is  done;  and  that  one 
moment  I  will  redeem  now.  It  may  be  that  a 
single  crumb  of  bread  or  drop  of  water  will 
sustain  me  at  the  very  crisis  of  my  danger;  and 
I  wiU  count  that  as  its  value  now." 


FACTS    OF    LIFE.  119 

And  is  it  not  so  with  life  ?  Is  its  only  or  chief 
purpose  to  eat,  drink  and  be  merry?  Is  its 
highest  or  purest  enjoyment  that  which  springs 
from  exuberant  health  and  spirits?  May  not 
these  gifts  of  heavenly  kindness  be  welcomed 
with  joy  and  gladness,  and  yet  be  improved  for  a 
better  end  than  the  gratification  of  sense  or  the 
pursuit  of  pleasure  and  excitement  ? 

There  are  other  facts  of  life  not  less  real  and 
obvious  than  the  joys  of  youth  and  health.  There 
is  a  peace  with  God  that  passeth  all  understanding. 
There  is  a  hope  full  of  immortality.  There  is  a 
joy  with  which  a  stranger  intermeddle th  not. 
Surely  he  makes  not  the  most  of  hfe  who  neglects 
to  prepare  himself  for  its  trials  and  reverses.  He 
is  not  a  wise  navigator  who  does  not  provide  for 
the  perils  of  a  voyage  as  well  as  for  its  pleasures. 

It  has  been  beautifully  said  that  "it  is  the 
privilege  of  a  child  of  God  to  rejoice  even  in 
tribulation.  When  his  sorrows  are  heaviestj  his 
joy  in  God  is  purest.  Like  some  birds  of  which 
naturahsts  tell  us,  whose  plumage  is  too  cum- 
brous to  fly  against  a  strong  wind,  and  therefore 
they  soar  above  its  range :  so  the  elements  which 
seem  hostile  to  the  Christian's  progress  only  in- 


120  FACTS    OF    LIFE. 

vigorate  him  to  seek  and  obtain  a  region  neafer 
the  throne  of  his  coA^enant  God  and  Saviour." 

You  are,  doubtless,  familiar  ^ith  records  of  the 
emotions  with  which  persons  in  various  grades  of 
society  and  differing  widely  in  education,  intel- 
lectual endowments  and  moral  qualities,  have  re- 
viewed life  and  contemplated  its  close.  I  am 
not  particularly  partial  to  biography  as  an  exhibi- 
tion of  human  character.  It  is  only  on  the  in- 
spired page  that  we  have  perfectly  cai^did  and 
reliable  specimens  of  it ;  and,  indeed,  we  can  expect 
them  nowhere  else.  But,  as  we  have  a  divine  war- 
rant for  testing  the  tree  by  its  fruits,  we  can  judge 
of  the  wisdom  of  a  course  of  conduct,  or  of  the 
soundness  of  a  principle,  by  its  results.  There  is 
no  man  who,  in  his  sober  senses,  would  deliberately 
PREFER  to  lead  a  useless  and  vicious  life, — none  who 
would  rather  live,  in  the  remembrance  of  his  race, 
as  Benedict  Atmold  than  as  George  Washington. 

Multitudes  leave  the  world  without  any  oppor- 
tunity or  power  to  reflect  or  to  anticipate.  They 
''  die  and  make  no  sign."  Others  contemplate  an 
exchange  of  worlds  as- a  destiny,  and  submit  to 
death  as  they  do  to  a  drought  or  storm.  Many 
are  filled  with  terror — not    always,  nor  perhaps 


FAITH.  121 

generally,  from  the  apprehension  of  evil ;  but  there 
is  something  appalling  to  their  minds  in  the  idea 
of  closing  one's  eyes  forever  on  this  sunlit,  busy, 
beautiful  world,  with  at  best  but  a  vague  and  dim 
impression  of  what  awaits  them  in  the  next. 
That  remarkable  expression  upon  the  dying  lips 
of  one  of  our  most  distinguished  statesmen,* 
^^This  is  the  last  of  earth!"  gives  us  a  vivid 
idea  of  the  eventful  transition.  The  last  mo- 
ment in  time !    The  first  moment  in  eternity  ! 

But-  oftentimes  the  emotions  are  more  definite, 
and  afford  us  unequivocal  evidence  of  the  value 
of  a  Christian  hope.  Whatever  may  be  said  of 
the  influence  of  physical  causes  in  accounting  for 
the  tranquillity  and  even  ecstasy  with  which  this 
momentous  change  is  sometimes  attended,  it  will 
not  be  denied  that  in  a  multitude  of  cases  it  is 
the  result  of  Christian  faith.  Like  the  child 
leaping  joyfully  into  a  dark  cavern  from  which 
she  heard  a  father's  voice  telling  her  that  he  was 
there  to  receive  her  in  his  arms,  they  have  wel- 
comed the  summons  and  embraced  the  messenger 
as  an  angel  of  mercy. 


*  J.  Q.  Adams. 
11 


122  THE    LAWYER. 

Many  years  ago  I  was  intimately  acquainted 
with  a  man  of  uncommon  intellectual  powers  and 
socicj  qualities,  which  endeared  him  to  a  large 
circle  of  friends.  He  had  keen  wit;  was  a  close 
observer  of  character ;  courteous  in  his  manners  : 
he  was  without  a  personal  enemy  in  the  world.  His 
parents  were  people  of  simple  hut  fervent  piety ; 
and  so  were  most  of  his  immediate  connections. 
He  Avas  bred  a  lawyer ;  but  his  circumstances  were 
such  as  to  exempt  him  from  the  necessity  of  pur- 
suing his  profession  for  a  livelihood;  and  this, 
unhappily,  left  him,  for  much  of  the  time,  with- 
out systematic  employment.  He  was  accustomed 
from  childhood  to  attend  public  worship,  and 
continued  the  practice — though  not  regularly — 
when  he  became  a  man.  His  social  disposition 
proved  a  snare;  and  he  fell  into  th^  vice  of  in- 
temperance, by  which  so  many  strong  men  have 
been  cast  down  and  destroyed. 

In  the  meridian  of  life  he  was  seized  with 
a  pulmonary  affection,  which  defied  medical  skill; 
and  he  slowly  sank  into  the  grave.  I  was  glad 
of  opportunities  to  minister  to  his  comfort  by 
watching  with  him  two  or  three  nights  towards 
the  end  of  his  illness.     On  each  of  these  occa- 


THE    LAWYER.  123 

sions  he  was  in  good  spirits^ — made  a  jest  of  the 
emaciation  of  his  limbs,  and  betrayed  no  appre- 
hension in  view  of  the  change  which  was  ob- 
viously near.  A  few  days  previous  to  his  death, 
however,  this  state  of  mind  was  entirely  reversed. 
A  horror  of  great  darkness  came  over  him.  His 
Christian  friends  hoped  that  such  a  sense  of  his 
guilt  and  helplessness  might  be  vouchsafed  to 
him  as  would  lead  him  to  "the  Rock  that  was 
higher  than  he;"  and  they  watched  with  sleepless 
anxiety  and  prayed  with  earnest  importunity  for 
some  token  of  mercy.  But  he  still  wandered  in 
the  wilderness  where  there  was  no  way.  A  sis- 
ter's gentle  voice  inquired  if  he  felt  no  relief;  his 
uniform  reply,  given  in  broken  and  despairing  ac- 
cents, was,  "Not  a  ray  of  hope  yet!"  "Not  a 
ray  of  hope  yet!" 

Among  his  near  relatives  was  an  uncle,  a  patri- 
arch in  years  and  appearance  as  well  as  in  piety, 
who  resided  in  a  distant  city.  On  one  occasion 
the  silence  of  the  chamber  was  disturbed  by  an 
exclamation  from  the  sick  man,  who  seemed  to 
have  been  musing  upon  the  dreary  hopelessness 
of  his  condition  : — "  /  used  to  laugh  at  Uncle  I.'s 
prat/ers  ;  hut  I  would  give  the  world  for  an  interest  in 


124  THE    YOUNG    CHRISTIAN. 

them  now  "  In  this  state  of  fearful  apprehension 
and  despondency  the  poor  man  went  down  to  the 
grave, — the  very  last  intelligible  words  he  uttered 
being,  ''Not  a  rap  of  hope  yet  /" 

Taking  from  this  melancholy  picture  the  im- 
pression which  it  is  well  fitted  to  give  of  the 
terrible  dreariness  and  dismay  with  which  a  soul, 
(to  human  appearance)  unsanctified  by  the  spirit 
of  holiness,  approaches  the  grave,  we  gladly  turn 
from  it,  but  not  from  the  presence  of  death. 

Directly  before  me  in  the  church  where  I  was 
accustomed  to  worship  was  a  family  that  inte- 
rested me  before  I  became  personally  acquainted 
with  them.  One  of  the  young  ladies,  who  was 
then  perhaps  fifteen  or  sixteen,  attracted  my 
attention.  She  was  constant  in  her  place,  re- 
markably modest  in  her  manners  and  scrupulously 
tasteful  in  her  dress.  Her  older  sister  was  a 
teacher  in  a  Sunday-school  with  which  I  was  also 
connected;  and  through  her  I  was  introduced  to 
the  family. 

The  mother  was  originally  a  member  of  the 
Society  of  Friends.  The  father  was  a  rigid 
Scotch  Presbyterian.  The  eldest  daughter  be- 
came a  professor  of  religion  early  in  her  career 


THE    YOUNG   CHRISTIAN.  125 

as  a  teacher,  and  adorned  her  profession.  But 
her  sister  was  not  so  inclined. 

I  well  remember  that  at  one  of  my  earliest 
visits  to  the  family  she  came  into  the  room  to 
excuse  her  sister,  who  was  quite  indisposed.  She 
was  all  ready  to  step  into  the  carriage  that  was 
expected  every  moment  to  take  her  to  a  bridal 
party;  and  I  have  rarely  seen  a  more  attractive 
object.  Her  complexion,  features  and  figure,  her 
perfectly  chaste  and  simple  apparel  and  her 
graceful  motion  combined  to  form  a  picture  of 
loveliness  seldom  surpassed. 

Two  or  three  years  after  this  her  mother  died, 
and  the  hue  of  her  worldly  life  was  sadly  changed ; 
but  not  so  much  as  to  divert  her  from  a  pursuit 
of  its  pleasures.  Then  her  health  failed.  I  had 
in  the  mean  tin»e  seen  much  of  her,  and  had 
been  enabled  to  gain  some  measure  of  her  con- 
fidence. Her  sister  married  and  removed  to  a 
Western  city.  She  had  new  cares  and  responsi- 
bilities, and  with  them  came  new  trials.  She 
had  now  learned  that  life  has  higher  ends  than 
enjoyment  or  excitement,  and  to  discharge  her 
duties  in  the  sphere  to  which  she  was  called  was 

evidently  her  prevailing  desire.    Her  conscientious- 

11* 


126  THE    YOUNG    CHRISTIAN. 

ness  was  exquisitely  sensitive.  To  do  right,  to  act 
from  pure  motives,  to  be  governed  by  just  prin- 
ciples in  every  thing,  she  sought  and  strove  with 
commendable  earnestness.  I  had  frequent  inter- 
views with  her  in  her  seasons  of  illness  and  de- 
pression. She  was  teachable  as  a  little  child,  and 
seemed  always  grateful  for  any  attempt  to  solve 
her  difficulties  or  shed  light  upon  her  path.  Her 
questions  were  evidently  the  result  of  study  and 
reflection,  and,  while  very  simple  and  natural, 
plainly  indicated  the  current  of  her  thoughts. 
She  was  (I  had  almost  said)  morbidly  distrustful 
of  herself,  and  especially  reluctant  to  express  any 
religious  emotions,  through  fear  that  they  might 
be  transient  or  give  promise  of  what  would  never 
be  realized.  A  public  profession  of  religion  often 
occurred  to  her  as  a  duty;  but  ^he  shrunk  from 
the  responsibilities  which  such  a  step  seemed  to 
her  to  involve.  Her  removal  to  another  part  of 
the  country  deprived  me  for  a  time  of  all  oppor- 
tunity to  watch  the  developement  of  her  Christian 
character,  except  as  an  occasional  letter  disclosed 
it;  but  she  became  an  active,  earnest,  uncom- 
promising   disciple   of  Jesus    of    Nazareth,   and 


THE    YOUNG    CHRISTIAN.  127 

yielded  all  her  powers  of  body  and  mind  to  his 
service. 

I  saw  her  occasionally  after  she  took  up  the 
cross,  and  never  without  having  my  convictions 
of  her  elevated  piety  confirmed.  But  her  earthly 
service  was  to  be  brief  and  her  crown  to  be  early 
won. 

The  last  time  we  met,  her  health  was  greatly 

impaired  and  she  had  come  to  P for  medical 

advice.  The  nature  of  her  disease  was  not  at 
first  fully  apprehended  -,  and,  though  some  alarm- 
ing symptoms  were  detected,  she  was  cheerful 
and  hopeful.  For  an  account  of  her  homeward 
journey  and  the  incidents  which  followed,  I  was 
indebted  to  her  sister  and  dearest  earthly  friend. 

*  *  *  *  a  -^j  j^Y\Q  good  providence  of  God,  we 
reached   home   on   Saturday  morning,  not  quite 

three  weeks  from  the  time  we  left  P .     You 

cannot  conceive  of  dear  A.'s  rapture  at  being 
once  more  in  the  bosom  of  her  beloved  family. 
It  seemed  to  give  her  weary  spirit  such  new 
energy  that  we  were  almost  deluded  into  the 
belief  that  she  might  be  spared  to  us  many 
'years.  But  an  immediate  return  of  all  her  dis- 
tressing symptoms  and  increased  debility  warned 


128  THE    YOUNG    CHRISTIAN. 

US  that  her  improvement  had.  not  been  radical. 
Still,  we  did  not  anticipate  so  speedy  a  blight  of 
our  hopes.  She  still  took  her  daily  walk,  still 
rode  on  horseback  occasionally, — sometimes  saw 
her  friends  and  smiled  upon  them  all.  She  still 
gathered  her  little  Sunday-school  children  around 
her,  that  she  might  not  lose  her  hold  upon  them 
if  she  should  ever  be  able  to  resume  her  duties 
as  a  teacher.  Only  two  Sabbaths  before  her 
final  illness  was  her  seat  vacant  in  the  house  of 
prayer.  My  heart  told  me  that  sickness  must 
have  made  deep  inroads  upon  her  strength,  or  she 
would  have  been  still  there. 

"Very  suddenly  after  a  ride  on  horseback  she 
went  to  her  bed  in  excruciating  pain,  and  for 
nearly  three  weeks  suffered  tortures  which  I  will 
not  pain  you  by  describing.  They  were  fearful 
and  unremitting,  exhausting  even  those  who  only 
witnessed  them.  But  no  one  heard  her  murmur 
or  say,  'It  is  more  than  I  can  bear.'  Again 
and  again,  she  said,  'Pray  for  me.  That  only 
brings  relief.' 

"  On  Saturday  evening  she  expressed  a  desire 
that  if  she  should  be  living  the  next  morning, 
public  prayers  might  be  requested  in  her  behalf 


THE    YOUNG    CHRISTIAN.  12^3 

that  she  might  retain  her  reason  to  the  close ;  but 
she  suddenly  checked  herself,  saying,  '  Shall  I 
dictate  to  my  heavenly  Father?  His  will  be 
done  in  this  and  in  all  things.  Pray  only  that  I 
may  be  perfectly  submissive  to  that.' 

"  On  Sunday  evening  she  said,  in  a  feeble  voice, 
^It  is  almost  over.'  And  to  the  inquiry,  ^How 
does  your  faith  endure?'  she  replied,  in  broken 
words  and  with  a  most  painful  effort,  yet  with 
perfectly  characteristic  meekness,  'You  know  I 
never  had  the  assurance  which  many  enjoy;  but 
I  believe  Jesus  will  be  with  me  to  the  end.' 

''The  two  following  days  her  little  strength 
failed  rapidly ;  and  on  the  afternoon  of  Tuesday 
she  took  an  affecting  leave  of  us  all  in  the  ex- 
pectation of  an  immediate  release.  She  ralHed, 
however,  and  a  paroxysm  of  acute  pain  seemed 
to  give  her  supernatural  energy.  She  continued 
giving  minute  directions  to  five  of  us,  who,  for 
hours,  took  turns  to  hold  her  in  our  arms, — the 
only  position  in  which  she  could  find  a  moment's 
respite.  Shortly  before  noon,  in  a  distinct, 
energetic  tone,  she  called  us  each  by  name,  tell- 
ing us  what  to  do.     She  said  to  me,  as  I  was 

holding  her  head  and  shoulders,  '  Now  give  me  a 
I 


130  THE    TRIUMPH. 

drink.'  I  did  so.  She  held  the  glass,  drank  its 
contents,  passed  it  back  to  me,  and  in  less  than  a 
minute,  as  I  gazed  intently  into  her  agonized 
face,  that  look  of  agony  was  changed,  as  by  a 
supernatural  power,  into  a  smile  of  rapture.  Her 
up-turned  eye,  as  it  quickly  closed  on  all  earthly 
objects,  seemed  to  have  caught  a  glimpse  of 
heaven.  The  weary  head  sunk  heavily  on  my 
bosom.  Then  there  was  a  gentle  sigh ;  another, 
and  another,  still  more  gentle,  passed  her  lips, 
and  then  all  was  silent !  I  felt  for  the  moment 
a  thrill  of  delight.  I  seemed  to  have  accompanied 
the  departing  soul  of  my  beloved  sister  to  the 
very  gates  of  the  celestial  city,  and  could  almost 
hear  the  fluttering  of  angels'  wings  as  they  came 
to  welcome  her  ransomed  spirit  to  their  as- 
sembly." *  *  *  To  her  it  was  not 

"  So  much  even  as  the  lifting  of  a  latch  ; — 
Only  a  step  into  the  open  air 
Out  of  a  tent  already  luminous 
With  light  -vA'hich  shines  through  its  transparent  walls." 

*'  That  clime  is  not  like  this  dull  clime  of  our's. 

All,  all  is  brightness  there  ; 
A  sweeter  influence  breathes  around  its  flowers, 

And  a  far  milder  air. 
No  calm  below  is  like  that  calm  above ; 
No  region  here  is  like  that  realm  of  love. 


FACTS.  131 

Earth's  softest  spring  ne'er  shed  so  soft  a  light 
Earth's  brightest  summer  never  shone  so  bright. 

**That  sky  is  not  like  this  sad  sky  of  our's, 
Tinged  with  earth's  change  and  care ! 
No  shadow  dims  it,  and  no  rain-cloud  lowers, 

No  broken  sunshine  there  ! 
One  everlasting  stretch  of  azure  pours 
Its  starless  splendour  o'er  those  sinless  shores ; 
For  there  Jehovah  shines  with  heavenly  ray  ; 
There  Jesus  reigns,  dispensing  endless  day  V 

I  am  sure  you  will  not  doubt  that,  as  a  matter 
of  fact  y  there  was  a  prop  to  the  spirit  of  my  young 
friend,  which  faith  supplied  and  which  proved  it- 
self adequate  to  extraordinary  emergencies.  Nor 
is  it  any  less  a  matter  of  fact  "that  for  want  of 
this  sustaining  principle  the  entrance  of  my 
other  friend  to  the  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death 
was  shrouded  in  appalling  darkness.  You  will 
not  understand  me  to  say  or  to  believe  that,  in 
the  absence  of  other  evidence,  the  emotions  ex- 
hibited ■  in  the  hour  oT  death  are  reliable  indica- 
tions that  the  "heart  is  right  in  the  sight  of 
God."  But  it  is  not  less  in  accordance  with  his 
providence  than  with  his  word,  that,  while  "  the 
righteous  hath  hope  in  his  death,"  the  "  wicked 
should  be  driven  away  in  his  wickedness." 

That  you  have  vigorous  health  and  overflowing 


132  FACTS. 

spirits,  that  the  world  has  attractions,  and  that 
life  is  given  us  to  enjoy,  are  your  facts.  That 
health  and  spirits  are  transient,  that  worldly 
pleasure  soon  palls  upon  the  sense,  and  that  a 
life  devoted  to  it  ends  in  unutterable  disappoint- 
ment, are  my  facts.  I  set  before  you  two  repre- 
sentative cases,  and  ask  you  to  decide  calmly,  for 
yourselves,  which  commends  itself  to  your  judg- 
ment for  imitation.  Looking  at  it  (as  you  would 
feel  bound  to  look  at  any  question  of  less  absorb- 
ing interest)  with  due  regard  to  the  bearings  of 
your  decision  upon  the  broadest  and  most  mo- 
mentous relations  of  your  whole  existence,  which 
strikes  you  as  the  path  of  safety  and  true  happi- 
ness ? — the  enjoyment  of  the  present  at  the  risk 
of  the  endless  future,  or  a  preparation  for  the 
endless  future  at  the  sacrifice  (if  need  be)  of  the 
fleeting  present  ?  You  know  the  story  of  the  two 
men  who  were  sitting  by  the  wayside,  when  one 
derided  the  other  for  his  needless  concern  about 
the  life  to  come.  To  condemn  the  folly  of  his 
comrade  out  of  his  own  mouth,  he  called  a  school- 
child  and  offered  him  his  choice  of  a  sugar-plum 
or  a  guinea.  The  child  eagerly  seized,  the  sugar- 
plum. 


THE    SEA-BIRD.  133 

"  Tnt-tutj  there,  you  little  fool !  Don't  you 
know  the  guinea  will  get  you  a  bag  full  of  sugar- 
plums ?" 

"Not  a  greater  fool  than  yourself,"  said  his 
companion,  "if  you  would  forego  the  joys  of  an 
eternal  future  for  the  sake  of  a  moment's  present 
gratification !"  «• 

For  myself,  I  cannot  doubt  that  it  is  the  part 
of  true  wisdom  to  anticipate  the  season  of  dark- 
ness and .  tempest,  and  chmb,  while  I  have  hght 
and  strength,  to  the  "  Rock  that  is  higher  than  I." 
I  cannot  doubt  that  even  my  present  joys  will  be 
brightened  and  purified  by  connecting  them  in- 
timatel}'  with  those  which  await  the  redeemed 
soul  when  its  hour  of  release  from  sin  and  sorrow 
shall  strike.  Beautifully  has  this  thought  been 
expressed  by  the  poet : — 


"  I've  watch'd  the  sea-bird  calmly  glide 
Unruffled  o'er  the  ocean  tide : 
Unscared  she  heard  the  waters  roar 
In  foaming  breakers  on  the  shore  ; 
Fearless  of  ill,  herself  she  gave 
To  rise  upon  the  lifting  wave, 
Or  sink,  to  be  a  while  unseen, 
The  undulating  swells  between : 
Till,  as  the  evening  shadows  grew, 
Noiseless,  unheard,  aloft  she  flew. 
12 


134  THE    SEA-BIED. 

While  soaring  to  her  rock-built  nest 
A  sunbeam  lighted  on  her  breast, — 
A  moment  glitter'd  in  mine  eye, 
Then  quickly  vanish'd  through  the  sky. 

While  by  the  pebbly  beach  I  stood, 

That  sea-bird,  on  the  waving  flood, 

Pictured  to  my  enraptured  eye 

A  soul  at  peace  with  God : — Now  high, 

Now  low,  upon  the  gulf  of  life 

Raised  or  depress'd,  in  peace  or  strife, 

Calmly  she  kens  the  changeful  waiTe. 

She  dreads  no  storm — she  fears  no  grave; 

To  her  the  world's  tumultuous  roar 

Dies  like  the  echo  on  the  shore. 

'  Father  !  thy  pleasure  all  fulfil, 

I  yield  me  to -thy  sovereign  will; 

Let  earthly  comforts  ebb  or  rise, 

Tranquil  on  thee  my  soul  relies/ 

Then,  as  advance  the  shades  of  night. 

Long  plumed,  she  takes  her  heavenward  flight; 

But,  as  she  mounts,  I  see  her  fling 

A  beam  of  glory  from  her  wing, — 

A  moment — to  my  aching  sight 

Lost  in  the  boundless  fields  of  light!" 


PRAYER.  135 


CHAPTER  V. 

What  is  prayer  f —  Vague  ideas — Prayer  natural — Its  power — Not 
only  a  duty,  hut  a  privilege — Remarkable  ansioers  to  pray ei — The 
tenor  of  Christ's  earthly  ministry  as  bearing  on  the  efficacy  of 
prayer — Prerequisites  to  effectual  prayer — Reflex  ijifluences  upon 
the  suppliant — Simplicity  of  the  duty — Value  of  intercessory 
prayer. 

That  I  did  not  reply  at  once  to  the  very  natural 

and    sensible    question   which    Miss   asked 

when  we  were  discussing  the  duty  of  prayer,  the 
other  evening,  was  because  I  wished  to  enter  a 
little  more  fully  into  the  subject  than  our  time  then 
allowed ;  and  even  now  a  volume  would  be  required 
for  what  must  be  condensed  into  a  brief  chapter. 

Lexicographers  tell  us  that  prayer  is  "  a  petition 
to  God."  Tliis'  definition  is  as  satisfactory  as  that 
of  other  terms  of  the  same  class, — as,  "  God,  the 
supreme  being,"  "  Man,  a  human  being,"  or,  "  Love, 
an  affection  of  the  heart."  When  the  Lord  said  to 
Ananias  concerning  Saul,  "Behold,  he  prayeth," 
there  w^as  reference  to  a  state  of  mind  in  the  new 


136  PRAYER. 

convert  whicli  prompted  him  to  pray.  As  in  the 
case  of  a  person  taken  from  the  water  apparently 
dead,  the  exclamation  "  Behold,  he  breathes !" 
would  indicate  the  restoration  of  the  vital  func- 
tions generally,  and  not  respiration  merely,  so  the 
supernatural  annunciation  respecting  the  converted 
persecutor,  "  Behold,  he  prayeth !"  denoted  a  com- 
plete revolution  in  his  moral  and  spiritual  nature, 
of  which  prayer  was  the  significant  token. 

There  is  no  duty  more  plainly  and  frequently 
inculcated  in  Holy  Scripture  than  prayer,  and 
perhaps  none  that  draws  more  largely  on  faith  for 
its  proper  discharge. 

"All  philosophic  objections  to  the  ef&cacy  of 
prayer  are  met  and  answered  by  an  appeal  to 
fact.  The  God  of  the  Bible  is  the  hearer  of 
prayer;  the  history  of  the  Church  is  an  exposi- 
tion of  its  value  :  in  the  whole  compass  of  divinely- 
appointed  means  it  occupies  the  highest  place  and 
possesses  the  mightiest  efficacy." 

We  have  not  only  the  positive  command  to  pray 
repeated  thousands  of  times  and  in  every  variety 
of  form,  but  there  are  numberless  exphcit  testi- 
monies to  the  efficacy  of  prayer  in  specific  cases. 
And,  in  addition  to  all  this,  the  inspired  page  is 


PRAYER.  137 

full  of  motives   and  incentives   to  prayer,  which 
even  a  little  child  can  apprehend  and  appreciate. 

The  apostasy  did  not  hrealc  the  bond  which 
unites  the  spirit  of  man  Avith  the  Spirit  of  God  his 
Creator.  Though  a  prodigal,  he  was  still  a  son ; 
and  the  mysterious  annunciation  which  was  made 
to  him  when  he  forfeited  the  divine  favour,  that, 
though  lost,  he  might  be  redeemed,  kept  ahve  a 
spark  of  hope.  So  complete,  however,  was  his 
alienation  from  God  that  of  himself  he  could 
have  had  no  disposition  to  return  even  to  ask  for- 
giveness ;  nor,  indeed,  was  there  any  way  by 
wliich  he  could  return,  save  that  which  infinite 
grace  provided  in  the  mission  and  atonement  of 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Still,  in  the  very  consti- 
tution of  our  nature,  there  is  a  sense  of  want  and 
dependence.  Not  more  instinctively  does  feeble 
infancy  stretch  out  its  hand  for  support  and 
guidance  than  the  human  soul,  when  made  con- 
scious of  its  darkness  and  defilement,  reaches  after 
something  to  enfighten  and  purify  it.  A  scriptural 
view  of  the  nature  and  attributes  of  the  Supreme 
Being,  his  eternity,  his  omnipotence,  his  hohness 
and  his  benevolence, — a  consideration  of  the  re- 
quirements of  his  perfect  law, — and  the  slightest 

12- 


138  PRAYER. 

glimpse  of  the  turpitude  and  odiousness  of  sin, — 
cannot  fail  to  produce  in  a  thoughtful  mind  the 
deepest  emotions. 

Can  the  image  of  God  be  restored  to  my  soul  ? 
Can  a  creature  of  his  be  happy  wliile  ahenated 
from  Mm  ?  Were  I  Hke  him,  would  not  all  my 
desires,  affections  and  dispositions  be  coincident 
with  his  perfect  will  ?  And  would  not  this  be  the 
highest  condition  of  happiness  of  which  a  finite 
beuig  is  capable  ?  To  be  hke  Christ  is  to  be  hke 
God ;  for  Christ,  the  Son  of  man,  is  God  manifest 
in  the  flesh, — "the  brightness  of  the  Father's 
glory  and  the  express  image  of  his  person," 
"  in  whom  dweUs  all  the  fulness  of  the  Godhead 
bodily."  To  follow  Christ  is  to  be  hke  him.  To 
do  whatsoever  he  has  commanded  is  to  be  his 
disciple  indeed.  The  hfe  of  such  a  one  is  "  hid 
with  Christ  in  God."  But  in  order  to  this  he 
must  have  become  a  new  creature.  "  For  the 
natural  [or  unrenewed]  man  perceiveth  not  the 
things  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  neither  can  he  know 
them,  because  they  are  spiritually  discerned." 
Christ  came  a  hght  into  the  world,  that  whoso- 
ever beheveth  in  him  should  not  abide  in  dark- 
•ness.     What  I  need,  and  what  you  need,  is  faith 


PRAYER.  139 

to  believe  in  Christ ;  and  faith  is  the  gift  of  God. 
Can  I  obtain  it?  Ask,  and  ye  shall  receive. 
Seek,  and  ye  shall  find.  Knock,  and  it  shall  be 
opened  unto  you..  This  is  the  reply  of  Scripture 
to  our  inquiry.  But  I  need  faith  in  order  to 
pray.  My  heavenly  Father  knows  this  ;  and  the 
very  conviction  of  this  need  is  his  gracious  work, 
prompting  me  to  fall  on  my  knees,  in  all  my  weak- 
ness and  sin,  and  say,  ^'  Lord,  I  beheve  :  help 
thou  mine  unbelief!"  "God  be  merciful  to  me,  a 
sinner !" 

The  power  of  prayer  is  beautifully  set  forth  by 
one  who  evidently  felt  it  to  be  something  more 
than  a  required  duty  : — 

**  There  is  an  eye  that  never  sleeps 

Beneath  the  wing  of  night; 
Theje  is  an  ear  that  never  shuts 

When  sink  the  beams  of  light. 
There  is  an  arm  that  never  tires 

When  human  strength  gives  way ; 
There  is  a  love  which  never  fails 

When  earthly  loves  decay. 
That  eye  is  fix'd  on  seraph  throngs ; 

That  arm  upholds  the  sky  ; 
That  ear  is  filPd  with  angel-songs ; 

That  love  is  throned  on  high. 
But  there's  a  power  which  man  can  wield 

When  mortal  aid  is  vain, 
That  eye,  that  arm,  that  love,  to  reach, 

That  listening  ear  to  gain. 


140  ANSWERS    TO    PRAYER. 

That  power  is  prayer,  which  soars  on  high, 

Through  Jesus,  to  the  throne, 
And  moves  the  hand  that  moves  the  world, 

To  bring  salvation  down.'' 

Without  entering  into  the  philosophy  of  prayer, 
1  would  affectionately  urge  it  upon  you  not  only 
as  a  duty,  but  as  a  idrivilege  of  inestimable  value. 
However  impossible  it  may  be  for  us  to  conceive 
that  the  counsels  of  the  Infinite  God  can  be  in- 
fluenced by  the  prayers  of  his  creatures,  we  may 
be  assured  that  unless  there  were  some  very  im- 
portant results  to  ourselves  and  to  our  own  happi- 
ness, involved  in  the  observance  of  the  command 
"to  pray  and  not  to  faint,"  it  would  not  have  been 
so  prominently  prescribed  nor  so  constantly  urged. 

If  your  attention  has  not  been  already  drawn 
particularly  to  it,  you  will  be  surprised  to  find  how 
numerous  are  the  prayers  recorded  an  Scripture, 
and  the  answers  to  them, — as  if  God  would  teach 
'  us  to  dismiss  all  doubts  and  cavils  on  the  subject 
by  just  putting  before  us  the  facts.  I  will  cite  but 
two  or  three ;  and  you  can  easily  multiply  them  at 
pleasure. 

Manasseh,  King  of  Judah,  fell  into  the  hands  of 
the  King  of  Assyria  and  was  carried  a  prisoner  to 
Babylon.     And  when  he  was  in  tliis  affliction  he 


ANSWERS    TO   PRAYER.  141 

besought  the  Lord  his  God,  and  prayed  unto  him, 
and  the  Lord  heard  his  prayer,  and  brought  him 
again  to  Jerusalem  mto  his  kingdom. 

The  brief  prayer  of  EHjah  when  he  would  vin- 
dicate the  claim  of  Jehovah  to  the  exclusive  wor- 
ship of  his  creatures  in  opposition  to  the  prophets 
of  Baal,  was  answered  on  the  spot;  and  the  pre- 
valence of  his  prayer  for  dearth  and  then  for  rain 
is  referred  to  by  an  apostle  as  a  warrant  for  any 
man  to  expect  the  hke  return  to  a  prayer  offered 
in  the  hke  spirit. 

The  prayer  of  Daniel  is  recorded  in  fuU  by  the 
pen  of  inspkation,  and  the  answer  was  given 
before  the  supphcation  was  finished.  Paul's  thrice- 
repeated  prayer  was  answered  graciously,  though 
not  in  the  specific  form  he  contemplated;  and  the 
memorials  of  godly  men  and  women  in  aU  ages 
abound  with  evidence  that  "the  effectual  fervent 
prayer  of  a  righteous  man  availeth  much." 

A  young  friend  of  mine  once  said  to  me,  "1 
have  prayed  every  day  for  more  than  a  month 
that  God  would  convert  my  soul ;  and  I  am  satis- 
fied it's  of  no  use  to  try  any  longer."  It  was 
suggested  to  her  that  if  she  had  any  just  concep- 
tion of  what  she  was  asking  for,  she  would  not 


142  INEFFECTUAL   PRAYER. 

have  been  disposed  to  give  up  so  soon.  Suppose 
you  were  in  a  house  or  ship  that  was  on  fire: 
would  you  so  readily  desist  from  an  effort  to  save 
yourself,  and  sit  calmly  down  to  await  the  issue  ? 
^Vould  you  not  rather  run  distractedly  from  end 
to  end  of  the  ship,  or  from  one  opening  to  another 
of  the  house,  seeking  a  way  of  escape  from  the 
devouring  flame  at  any  hazard  ? 

Suppose  it  were  an  earthly  father  whose  dis- 
pleasure you  had  incurred.  His  affectionate  heart 
has  been  deeply  wounded  by  your  disobedience 
and  ingratitude.  He  still  treats  you  as  his  child; 
but  there  is  no  smile  of  love,  no  complacent 
regard,  no  warm  sympathy  between  you.  The 
whole  complexion  of  your  fife  is  changed.  No- 
thing in  the  house  or  in  the  garden,  or  in  any  of  the 
scenes  or  pursuits  of  your  hfe,  is  as  it  used  to  be, 
— and  all  because  you  have  forfeited  your  father's 
favour.  Weary  and  wretched,  you  at  length  re- 
solve to  seek  reconciliation.  The  first  oppor- 
tunity for  an  interview  is  eagerly  seized.  You 
confess  your  fault  and  ask  forgiveness,  but  are 
surprised  and  disappointed  by  the  result.  His 
apparent  indifference  is  quite  inexplicable.  He 
seems  to  doubt  your  sincerity  and  to  receive  your 


INEFFECTUAL    PRAYER.  143 

professions  of  penitence  and  love  with  distrust. 
You  withdraw,  and  brood  over  your  repulse  till 
you  are  ready  to  justify  your  unfilial  conduct  and 
to  reproach  your  father  with  injustice.  All  this 
time  his  treatnrent  of  you  is  unchanged.  With 
affectionate  care  he  watches  over  you  ]  but  his  face 
wears  the  same  look  of  disapprobation,  and  his 
very  kindness  upbraids  your  conduct  more  severely 
than  words.  Again  you  confess  your  fault  and 
beg  his  forgiveness,  but  with  no  better  success, 
and  finally  conclude  that  further  effort  is  useless, 
— a  reconciliation  is  impracticable.  What,  in  such  a 
case,  would  be  the  judgment  of  others  as  to  the  depth 
of  your  sorrow  or  the  ardour  of  your  affection  ?  If 
in  your  first  interview  you  had  refused  to  go  from 
your  father's  presence  till  you  were  forgiven  or 
till  you  had  received  from  him  a  smile  such  as  once 
expressed  his  love, — had  you  evinced  a  grief 
and  shame  which  nothing  but  a  restoration  to 
his  favour  would  remove, — if,  in  a  word,  you  had 
imitated  the  example  of  the  woman  in  Simon's 
house,  who  in  meek  silence  bathed  her  Saviour's 
feet  with  her  tears  and  wiped  them  with  the  hairs 
of  her  head, — think  you  his  warm  and  tender  heart 
would  have  felt  no  relentings  towards  you?     Do 


144  INEFFECTUAL   PRAYER. 

yo^  doubt  that  he  would  have  clasped  you  in  his 
arms,  saying,  "  Be  of  good  cheer,  my  daughter.  I 
am  convinced  of  your  penitence  and  love.  You 
have  my  hearty  forgiveness  and  blessing"  ? 

And  will  our  heavenly  Father  be  satisfied  with 
less  unequivocal  tokens  of  our  contrition  and  sin- 
cerity ?  The  very  fact  that  you  relinquished  your 
suit  at  all,  and  especially  that  you  rehnquished  it 
with  so  httle  compunction,  shows  that  either  your 
faith  is  very  defective  or  your  desire  of  forgive- 
ness and  favour  very  weak.  "  Prayer  is  the  'Lord, 
save  us — we  perish'  of  drowning  Peter ;  and  you 
will  not  say  that  you  offered  it.  Nor  was  it  ever 
offered  and  denied." 

I  do  not  know  how  far  I  succeeded  in  setting 
before  her  the  probable  cause  of  her  failure ;  but 
she  afterwards  became  a  professed  foUower  of 
Christ. 

Prayer  is  the  universal  language  of  dependent 
creatures;  and  those  who  neglect  it,  or  affect  to 
contemn  it  as  a  rehgious  duty,  nevertheless  resort 
to  it  instinctively  when  in  anguish  or  peril.  But 
how  mean  and  basely  ungrateful  it  is  to  share 
profusely  in  the  gifts  of  God's  providence  and  yet 
not  recognise  his  liberal  hand ! — to  be  protected 


PRAYER.  145 

and  preserved  by  him  every  moment,  and  yet 
never  acknowledge  our  dependence  or  commit  our- 
selves to  his  keeping  until  all  other  resources  fail, 
— and  even  then  only  while  danger  impends ! 

We  often  mistake  the  nature  and  design  of 
prayer.  In  our  intercourse  with  God,  words  and 
actions  are  of  no  account.  We  may  stretch  forth 
the  hands  and  Hffc  the  eyes  towards  heaven  and 
utter  words  of  deep  devotion,  and  it  may  be  all  a 
vain  show.  "  Man  looketh  on  the  outward  ap- 
pearance; but  the  Lord  looketh  on  the  heart." 
The  faintest  emotion  of  love,  the  weakest  effort  of 
faith,  the  feeblest  struggle  for  the  mastery  over  a 
sinful  appetite  or  passion,  is  marked  by  liim  as 
promptly  and  distinctly  as  the  anguish  of  a  weep- 
ing Peter  or  the  triumphant  exultation  of  a  mar- 
tyred Stephen. 

Our  heavenly  Father  is  not  spying  out  our  sins 
and  follies  that  he  may  have  somewhat  against  us. 
We  thrust  them  into  his  sight  with  a  carelessness 
that  would  provoke,  to  our  hopeless  condemnation, 
the  angei^  of  any  earthly  monarch.  In  aU  our 
wanderings  from  duty  and  happiness  his  pitying 
eye  is  upon  us,  and  his  hand  is  stretched  out  aU 

K  13 


146  PRAYER. 

the  day  long  to  encourage  and   uphold  the  firsts 
feeblest  motions  of  our  return  to  him. 

Let  me  commend  to  you,  in  this  connection,  a 
careful  review  of  the  footsteps  of  our  divine 
Redeemer  during  the  three  years  of  his  incarnate 
ministry,  with  special  reference  to  his  tender  com- 
passion for  sinners  and  his  readiness  to  receive 
and  reheve  all  that  sought  his  help.  Point, 
if  you  can,  to  a  single  instance  in  which  the 
faintest  supplication  for  his  pity  and  help  was 
unheard  or  unanswered.  And,  at  the  same  time, 
mark  the  divine  tenderness  with  which  he  regarded 
those  who  were  neglected,  despised  and  condemned 
by  their  fellow-men.  Study  the  case  of  the  Syro- 
phenician  and  Samaritan  women;  of  the  two  bhnd 
men  in  the  subm'bs  of  Jericho ;  of  the  family  at 
Bethany ;  of  the  sleeping  disciples  in  the  garden; 
of  the  impetuous  Peter,  and  of  Mary  at  the 
sepulchre,  and  then  reflect  that  He  who  gave  to 
these  scenes  and  incidents  all  their  significancy 
and  glory  is  revealed  to  us  as  "  God  manifest  in  the 
flesh."  And,  though  removed  from  corporeal  sight, 
he  was  the  same  yesterday  and  is  the  same  to-day 
that  he  was  eighteen  centuries  ago,  and  that  he  will 
be  forever. 


PRAYER.  147 

In  prayer,  then,  you  are  left  to  no  vain,  mythical 
object  of  worship.  Christ  left  this  world  in  a 
body  hke  our's,  and  will  so  come  in  hke  manner  as 
he  was  seen  to  go  into  heaven ;  and  when  we  kneel 
in  true  worship  we  may  feel  assm-ed  that  we  have, 
in  advance,  His  sympathy  who  is  our  elder  Brother, 
— our  prevailing  Intercessor;  and  if  we  ask  and 
receive  not,  it  must  be  that  we  ask  amiss. 

Perhaps  it  may  never  have  occurred  to  you  that 
the  disposition  to  enter  into  your  closet  and  to 
shut  the  door  and  pray  to  your  Father  which  is 
in  secret  is  an  unequivocal  token  of  divine  grace. 
And  if  he  is  more  wilhng  to  hear  than  you  are  to 
ask;  more  ready  to  bestoAv  the  Holy  Spirit  (the 
chiefest  blessing,  because  it  includes  aU  others) 
than  earthly  parents  are  to  giA^e  good  gifts  to  their 
children,  no  one  can  repair  to  his  mercy-seat  in 
vain. 

"  All  night  the  lonely  suppliant  pray'd, 
All  night  his  earnest  crying  made, 
Till,  standing  by  his  side  at  morn, 
The  tempter  said,  in  bitter  scorn, 
*  Oh,  peace  !  what  profit  do  you  gain 
From  empty  words  and  babblings  vain  ? 
"Come,  Lord,  oh,  come,"  you  cry  alway; 
You  pour  your  heart  out  night  and  day ; 
Yet  still  no  murmur  of  reply, 
No  voice  that  answers,  "  Here  am  I." ' 


148  PRAYER. 

*'  Then  sank  that  stricken  heart  in  dust ! 
That  word  had  wither'd  all  its  trust; 
No  strength  retained  it  now  to  pray, 
While  Faith  and  Hope  had  fled  away. 
And  ill  that  mourner  now  had  fared, 
When  by  the  tempter's  art  ensnared. 
But  that  at  length  beside  his  bed 
His  sorrowing  angel  stood,  and  said, 

*  Doth  it  repent  thee  of  thy  love, 
That  never  now  is  heard  above 

Thy  prayer, — that  now  not  any  more 
It  knocks  at  heaven's  gate  as  before?' 

"I  am  cast  out.     1  find  no  place. 
No  hearing,  at  the  throne  of  grace : 

*  Come,  Lord,  oh,  come,'  I  cry  alway ; 
I  pour  my  heart  out  night  and  day, 
Yet  never  e'en  till  now  have  won 
The  answer,  '  Here  am  I,  my  son.' 

"  0  dull  of  heart !  enclosed  doth  lie 
In  each  *  Come,  Lord,'  a  '  Here  am  I.' 
Thy  love,  thy  longing,  are  not  thine, — 
Reflections  of  a  love  divine : 
•  Thy  very  prayer  to  thee  was  given 

Itself  a  messenger  from  heaven." 

We  are  never  to  forget  that  to  secure  an 
answer  to  our  prayers  there  must  be  in  the  sup- 
pliant's heart  an  aversion  to  all  sin,  and  a  wilhng- 
ness  to  do  whatever  is  needful  to  make  the  bestow- 
ment  of  the  blessing  asked  consistent  with  the  prin- 
ciples of  the  divine  government.  The  child  cannot 
claim  or  expect  the  father's  forgiveness  while  cherish- 


PRAYER.  149 

ing  a  purpose  to  repeat  the  offensive  act;  yet  by 
entreaties  and  tears  his  forgiveness  may  be  won. 
Not  so  with  our  heavenly  Father.  All  things  are 
naked  and  open  to  the  eyes  of  Him  with  whom  we 
have  to  do ;  and  if  we  regard  iniquity  in  our  hearts, 
we  are  forewarned  that  the  Lord  will  not  hear  us. 

You  will  readily  perceive  that  a  tractable  spirit 
must  also  attend  a  successful  plea  for  mercy.  The 
child  asks  his  parent's  forgiveness  with  an  ill 
grace  while  indisposed  to  do  a  parent's  will.  The 
temper  of  our  minds  has  quite  as  much  to  do  with 
the  success  of  om-  prayers  as  ihe  words  of  our 
mouths  and  the  meditations  of  our  hearts.  An 
earnest  struggle  with  some  besetting  sin,  an 
honest  effort  to  suppress  some  selfish  or  worldly 
desire,  will  give  wonderful  fervency  to  our  prayers. 
Indeed,  it  is  in  making  such  efforts  that  we  learn 
our  weakness  and  are  thereby  prompted  to  repair 
to  the  Strong  for  strength. 

A  httle  incident  in  one  of  my  daily  walks 
served,  by  its  very  simphcity,  to  impress  this 
thought  upon  my  mind.  A  child,  three  years  old 
perhaps,  was  attempting  to  trundle  a  rudely-made, 
diminutive  hoop;  but  her  driving-stick  was  too  long, 
and  interfered  with  her  dress,  which,  in  running, 

13* 


150  PRAYER. 

was  thrown  back  by  the  wind.  She  laid  her  hoop 
down,  and,  putting  the  stick  under  her  feet  and 
raising  the  ends  of  it  with  her  Httle  hands,  she 
tried  to  break  it.  But  it  was  green,  and  would 
only  bend.  Just  as  I  came  up  to  her  she  had 
made  a  last  desperate  effort,  but  without  better 
success.  I  stopped,  and  she  turned  her  flushed 
face  up  towards  me,  but  said  nothing.  "Your 
stick  is  too  long,  my  Httle  girl,  isn't  it  ?  Let  me 
shorten  it  for  you."  She  was  stiU  silent,  but 
passed  the  stick  to  me.  She  watched  me  with 
profound  deference  as  I  slowly  took  off  my  glove, 
opened  my  knife  and  cut  the  stick  in  two,  giving 
her  the  shortest  piece ;  and  with  a  single  bound 
she  was  off  in  full  chase  of  her  hoop.  It  tvas  the 
effort  to  help  herself  that  convinced  her  of  her  weak- 
ness and  led  her  to  avail  herself  of  offered  aid. 

As  I  have  often  said  to  you,  the  benefit  of 
prayer  is  all  felt  by  the  petitioner.  God  does  not 
stand  in  need  of  any  such  recognition  of  his  power 
and  authority  as  our  suppHcations  imply.  To 
earthly  monarchs  and  governments  such  acknow- 
ledgments may  be  grateful  and  necessary;  but 
our  praj^ers  to  God  are  all  and  altogether  for  our 
benefit.     They  are  not  "  needed  to  inform  God  of 


PRAYER.  151 

our  wants,  which  are  known  to  him ;  nor  necessary 
to  move  him  to  be  more  benevolent  than  he  other- 
wise would  be,  for  he  is  more  willing  to  give  than 
we  are  to  receive.;  but  they  are  demanded  as  a 
method  of  honouring  the  ordinations  of  heaven, 
and  as  a  means  of  bringing  our  own  minds  into  a 
state  of  preparation  for  the  reception  of  spiritual 
blessings." 

Under  the  Old  Testament  dispensation,  patri- 
archal and  prophetical,  God  revealed  himself  in 
various  ways  : — in  dreams  and  visions  of  the  night, 
as  to  Abraham  and  Jacob;  in  fire,  tempest  and 
smoke,  as  on  Horeb  and  Sinai ;  in  a  whirlwind,  as 
to  Job ;  and  by  angels,  as  to  Daniel  and  Ezekiel ; — 
but  "  in  these  last  days  he  has  spoken  unto  us  by 
his  Son,  whom  he  hath  appointed  heir  of  all 
things,  by  whom  also  he  made  the  worlds." 
There  can  be  no  doubt,  however,  that  under  both 
dispensations  the  economy  of  grace  is  the  same, 
and  that  the  way  of  access  to  Jehovah  which 
was  open  to  Abraham,  Isaac  and  Jacob  was  that 
by  which  apostles  and  martyrs  and  saints  of  later 
days  have  approached  Him.  The  manifestation  of 
God  in  the  flesh  fulfilled  aU  things  prefigured  in 
the  ancient  covenant;  and  now  we  have  the  simple. 


152  PRAYER. 

faithful  saying,  (which  is  worthy  of  all  accepta- 
tioHj)  "  That  Jesus  Christ  came  into  the  world  to 
save  sinners ;  and  that  whosoever  believeth  in  him 
shall  not  perish,  but  have  everlasting  life."  He  is 
the  mediator  of  the  new  covenant, — the  way,  the 
truth  and  the  life.  No  man  can  go  to  the  Father 
except  by  him ;  but  to  go  to  him  is  to  go  to  the 
Father,  for  he  that  hath  seen  'him  hath  seen  the 
Father. 

Did  you  ever  carefully  ponder  that  most  wonder- 
ful language  of  the  Apostle? — "Our  life  is  hid 
with  Christ  in  God  :  so  that  when  he  who  is  our 
life  shall  appear,  we  also  shall  appear  with  him  in 
glory."  Just  analyze  these  few  words,  and  let 
your  mind  dwell  calmly  on  their  infinite  import. 

Most  mysteriously  united  in  him  are  the  Deity, 
the  priest,  the  altar  and  the  sacrifice.  He  is  at 
once  a  Saviour,  an  Intercessor  and  a  sovereign 
dispenser  of  the  blessings  which  his  own  obedience 
and  death  purchased.  How  simple,  direct  and  un- 
embarrassed is-  this  new  and  living  way!  We 
have  no  need  to  ascend  into  heaven  to  bring 
Christ  down  from  above,  nor  yet  to  go  down  into 
the  deep  to  bring  Christ  up  from  the  dead;  for 
we  have  the  word  of  faith,  which  teaches  us  that 


PRAYER.  153 

if  we  confess  with  the  mouth  the  Lord  Jesus  and 
beheve  in  the  heart  that  God  hath  raised  him  from 
the  dead,  we  shall  be  saved.  The  same  Lord 
over  all  is  rich  unto  aU  that  call  upon  him  in 
truth. 

The  benefits  of  prayer  result  in  no  inconsiderable 
degree  from  the  state  of  mind  in  which  the  true 
supphant  must  be  in  order  to  his  acceptance ;  and 
hence  there  is  quite  as  much  truth  as  poetry  in 
the  familiar  stanza  : — 

*  Prayer  is  the  Christian's  vital  breath, 
The  Christian's  native  air, 
His  watchword  at  the  gates  of  death ; 
He  enters  heaven  with  prayer." 

And  hence,  too,  we  greatly  err  if  we  measure 
the  success  of  our  prayers  by  the  direct  answers 
to  them.  A  wise  earthly  parent  often  denies  a 
dutiful  child's  request  with  a  view  to  bestowing  a 
far  greater  favour  in  some  other  form ;  and  when 
we  seek  from  our  heavenly  Father  a  particular 
blessing,  the  denial  of  it  is  no  token  that  our 
prayer  is  rejected ;  for  if  the  temper  in  Avhich  we 
ask  is  what  it  should  be,  we  cannot  fail  of  an 
answer,  and  may  safely  trust  to  infinite  wisdom 
and  love  to  determine  the  form. 


154  INTERCESSORY   PRAYER. 

Prayer  brings  the  soul  into  immediate  contact 
with  the  former  of  our  bodies  and  the  father  of  our 
spirits,  from  whom  all  good  counsels,  all  holy 
desires  and  all  just  works  do  proceed.  We  think 
of  Him  whom  we  worship  as  the  God  of  the  spirits 
of  all  flesh ;  and  it  is  natural  that,  in  seeking  bless- 
ings for  ourselves,  we  should  seek  the  bestow- 
ment  of  similar  blessings  upon  those  of  our  kin- 
dred and  friends  whom  we  love  and  cherish  as 
we  do  our  own  bodies.  Holy  Scripture  presents 
numerous  and  emphatic  exhortations  to  prayer 
and  intercession  for  others;  and  A^arious  classes 
of  persons  are  mentioned  as  particularly  entitled 
to  such  remembrance.  Did  you  ever  seriously 
consider  to  what  extent  a  righteous  man's  prayers 
may  avail  to  bring  down  blessings  upon  others 
who  are  not  even  aware  of  their  being  oifereii? 
Is  it  not  possible  that,  in  answer  to  prayers 
offered  years  ago  by  those  who  may  be  now 
dwelling  in  the  world  of  spirits,  you  have  been 
exempted  from  temptations  by  which  multitudes 
are  overcome  and  destroyed,  and  are  now  sur- 
rounded with  restraints  and  safeguards  to  protect 
you  from  a  similar  catastrophe  ?  Who  knows 
how  far   the  daily  mercies  which  descend   upon 


INTERCESSORY   PRAYER.  155 

a  thoughtless  and  thankless  world — the  rain  and 
sunshine  and  fruitful  seasons,  exemption  from 
pestilence,  earthquake  and  flood,  and  the  bands 
laid  upon  bloody  and  violent  men — are  in  answer 
to  the  prayers  of  men  of  like  passions  with  our- 
selves ?  A  godly  spirit  inhabiting  some  weak, 
deformed,  or  bed-ridden  body  in  country-lane  or 
city-alley  may  prevail  with  God  to  save  or 
destroy,  to  help  or  hinder,  in  emergencies  which 
involve  the  destinies  of  stately  thrones  and  power- 
ful empires. 

In  the  appointments  of  a  wise  Providence, 
the  most  stupendous  events  are  brought  about 
by  agencies  and  instruments  so  remote  from 
the  proximate  cause  that  their  connection  with 
it  may  be  utterly  untraceable :  so  that  the 
obscurest  individual  and  the  minutest  incident 
may  exert  an  influence  on  the  order  of  events 
which  no  finite  mind  can  measure  or  compute. 
The  king's  butler  is  commanded  to  provide  a  fat 
capon  for  his  majesty's  table.  Scarcely  any 
thing  could  be  imagined  of  less  importance  to 
people  outside  of  the  palace.  The  capon  is  pro- 
vided. The  fragment  of  a  little  bone  finds  its 
way  into    the   king's   throat  and   strangles  him. 


156  SOCIAL    PRAYER. 

His  death  is  the  signal  for  a  revolution  which 
involves  a  continent  in  the  plagues  and  curses  of 
war. 

The  childlike  submission  of  the  soul  to  the  will 
of  its  Father  in  heaven,  which  is  characteristic  of 
prayer,  is  not  inconsistent  with  the  most  earnest 
supplication  for  needed  blessings.  It  is  as  if  one 
should  say  to  an  earthly  parent,  "My  dear 
father,  you  know  much  better  than  I  do  what  it 
would  be  right  and  proper  for  me  to  do  -,  and  I 
would  not  ask  any  thing  which  it  is  not  entirely 
in  accordance  with  your  views  and  plans  to  grant. 
I  greatly  desire  the  favour  I  am  about  to  ask.  I 
feel  as  if  I  could  not  be  denied;  but  I  am  so 
sensible  of  my  own  incompetency  to  judge,  and 
so  confident  of  the  wisdom  and  love  which 
govern  all  your  acts  towards  me,  that  I  gladly 
submit  the  whole  matter  to  you  and  will  heartily 
acquiesce  in  your  decision." 

Though  the  chief  and  most  intimate  communion 
of  the  soul  with  God  is  secret  and  personal,  the 
duty  and  advantages  of  social  prat/er  are  plainly 
revealed.  When  a  favour  is  to  be  sought  from  an 
earthly  potentate,  the  larger  the  number  who 
unite    in   seeking  it,   (other  things  being  equal,) 


SOCIAL    PRAYER.  157 

the  more  probable  is  the  success  of  the  petition. 
There  is  a  special  promise  of  the  Saviom^'s  pre- 
sence wherever  two  or  three  of  his  disciples  are 
gathered  together ;  and  the  history  of  the  early 
Christians  is  replete  with  evidence  that  they  re- 
garded social  prayer  and  praise  as  among  the 
chief  auxiliaries  to  growth  in  grace  and  in  fer- 
vency of  spuit.  We  cannot  doubt  that  the  daily 
sacrifice  under  the  Jewish  law,  and  the  custom, 
at  a  later  period,  of  resorting  daily  to  the  temple 
at  the  hour  of  prayer,  so  far  as  the  service  was 
sphitual  and  not  formal,  must  have  contributed 
to  detach  the  mind  and  heart  from  the  things 
of  time  and  sense,  and  so  have  exerted  a  sensible, 
salutary  influence  on  the  current  of  life.  Hence, 
the  observance  of  a  daily  service  of  prayer,  which 
still  prevails  in  some  portions  of  the  Christian 
church,  so  far  as  the  form  is  endued  with  spi- 
ritual life,  is  but  the  natural-  and  spontaneous 
expression  of  a  devout  and  earnest  mind.  The 
large  measure  of  formahty  and  insincerity  that 
may  be  mingled  with  such  services  takes  nothing 
from  the  duty  swid  advantage  of  engaging  in  them 
on  the  part  of  those  who  are  spiritually  minded; 

14 


158  SOCIAL   PRAYER. 

nor  does  it,  of  itself,  furnish  any  reason  for  dis- 
pensing with  them. 

Of  late  years  there  seems  to  have  been,  in 
various  Christian  communities,  an  increasing  con- 
viction of  the  efficacy  of  prayer;  and,  though 
many  of  the  weaknesses  and  infirmities  of  our 
nature  may  be  detected  in  incidental  circum- 
stances, there  can  be  no  doubt  that  large  acces- 
sions have  been  made  to  the  army  of  the  living 
God  in  answer  to  j)rayers  of  his  people  in  their 
daily  assemblages. 

The  suUimity  of  prayer  never  impressed  me 
so  much  as  when  the  Christian  world  was 
recently  moved  to  one  united  and  spontaneous 
offering  of  supplications  to  God  for  the  salva- 
tion of  our  race.  "  The  event  was  unique  and 
unexampled.  Nothing  like  it  has  occurred  from 
the  beginning  of  the  world  until  now.  That 
a  little  band  of  men  in  a  remote  province  of 
India,*  unknown  by  name  except  to  a  few 
persons,  and  carrying  on  a  mission  the  very 
existence  of  which  was*  to  most  equally  unknown, 
should   have   been   called    to    m(fve    the   whole 

*  Lodiana. 


SOCIAL    PRAYER.  159 

cliurcli  to  prayer,  is  so  remarkable  that  it  may 
well  awaken  the  exclamation,  '  This  is  the  finger 
of  God  !'  Had  the  movement  originated  in  some 
great  gathering  of  representatives  of  the  leading 
denominations  of  Christians,  it  might  have  been 
equally  of  God,  though  less  manifestly  the  work 
of  Him  who  is  excellent  in  counsel  and  carries  on 
his  mighty  plans  in  such  a  way  that  no  flesh 
should  glory  in  his  presence." 

This  simple  voice  from  the  desert  was  as 
though  the  prophetic  announcement  were  fulfilled, 
w^hich  declares  that  ^Hhe  inhabitants  of  one  city 
shall  go  to  another,  saying,  Let  us  go  speedily  to 
pray  before  the  Lord,  and  to  seek  the  Lord  of 
Hosts  :  we  will  go  also ;"  and  as  though  "  the 
set  time  to  favour  Zion  had  come."  '^  On  the 
second  Monday  of  January,  1860,  at  the  rising 
of  the  sun,  there  began  a  series  of  meetings  for 
prayer  in  the  farthest  East,  which  was  kept  up 
and  carried  round  the  world,  with  the  advance  of 
the  luminary  of  day,  to  the  farthest  West ;  and, 
ere  prayer  was  concluded  in  the  islands  of  the 
Pacific  Ocean,  the  strain  was  again  taken  up  by 
Christians  in  China;  and  thus,  through  all  the 
hours  of  the  week,  continuous  prayer  was  offered 


160  REPOSE. 

for  the  kingdom  and  glory  of  the  Redeemer,  in 
beautiful  harmony  with  the  inspired  saying  of 
the  sweet  singer  of  Israel  in  relation  to  the 
Messiah,  his  Son  and  Lord: — ^Prayer  shall  be 
made  for  him  continually,  and  daily  shall  he  be 
praised.' " 

Will  you  not  be  persuaded,  then,  to  cultivate 
the  spirit  of  prayer  ?  Many  horn's  of  sadness  and 
darkness ;  days  of  weariness  and  nights  of  watch- 
ing may  be  appointed  to  you ;  and  who  can  be 
such  a  refuge  and  stay,  such  a  helper  and  guide 
to  you,  as  the  everlasting  God  ? 

Those  who  have  had  the  largest  and  fullest 
experience  of  the  benefit  and  privilege  of  prayer 
know  best  what  its  power  is  to  compose  troubled 
thoughts  and  give  rest  and  tranquillity  to  the 
weary  and  heavy-laden.  The  albatross  is  seen 
by  navigators  hundreds  of  miles  from  land.  When 
"the  gale  is  at  its  highest,  and  with  difl&culty 
the  eye  can  pierce  the  atmosphere  thick  with 
driving  sleet  and  foam,  suddenly,  through  the 
contending  elements,  his  shrill  cry  is  heard  above 
the  storm,  and  he  darts  quickly  by.  Then,  re- 
turning, he  hovers  for  a  while,  now  skirting  over 
the  breaking  seas  and  through  their  crests ;  then, 


SECURITY.  161 

settling  down  on  the  bosom  of  some  huge  wave, 
with  his  head  beneath  his  wing,  he  peacefully 
and  gracefully  sinks  to  rest,  all  unconscious  of 
the  fierce  tumult  raging  about  him." 

This  outward  life,  with  all  its  busy  forms 
Whirling  like  flakes  of  snow  in 'Alpine  storms, 
Confuses,  chills,  and  in  a  shifting  grave 
Entombs  the  spirit  that  the  Eternal  gave; 
Yet  look  through  these  to  Him.     Undaunted  strive 
Through  drift  and  darkness,  saving  Faith  alive, 
And  he  will  be  beside  thee  still, — uphold, 
Enlighten,  cheer;  with  Love  and  Hope  make  bold, 
And,  in  worst  hours  of  fear,  before  his  eye 
The  mountain  ice  and  gulfs  of  snow  shall  fly ; 
Thou  on  his  Rock  shalt  stand  secure,  and  raise 
Thy  wings  towards  heaven,  to  join  its  songs  of  praise. 


14» 


162  A    QUESTION. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

Our  position  as  creatures  of  God —  Our  moral  nature  and  relations 
— Perplexities — Obvious  prevalence  of  law — The  evidence  of  it 
specified — The  moral  sense — A  perfect  standard — An  anomaly — 
Greater  perplexities  without  a  revelation  than  iviihin  it — Im- 
pregnable truUis — Natural  and  necessary  inferences. 

The  subject  discussed  at  our  last  interview,  and 
especially  the  question  which  was  asked, — why- 
such  religious  truths  as  men  must  believe  in  order 
to  be  saved  are  not  revealed  so  clearly  that 
there  could  be  no  diJGFerence  of  opinion  about  them, 
— have  occupied  many  of  my  thoughts.  Other 
interesting  inquiries  grew  out  of  the  discussion, 
which  I  would  like  to  pursue  further  if  time 
allowed.  As  it  is,  without  attempting 'to  answer 
your  question  logically  or  theologically,  I  will 
simply  state  to  you,  as  nearly  as  I  can,  some  of 
the  reasonings  by  which  my  own  mind  has  been 
conducted  to  a  satisfactory  conclusion  in  respect 
to  it. 

There   are   various    starting-points    for    these 


SOLILOQUY.  163 

reasonings, — almost  as  various  as  the  objects  of 
sense.  They  may  commence  at  one  extreme 
with  a  pebble  on  the  sea-shore,  or  at  the  other 
with  the  structure  of  the  globe  or  the  motions 
of  the  heavenly  bodies ;  or  with  the  Bible,  or 
with  one's  own  consciousness ;  but  they  will  lead 
us  to  the  same  result.  I  will  take  the  last — one's 
own  consciousness — as  my  starting-point.  ^ 

I  find  myself  a  living,  conscious  being.     On 
the  morning  of  this  day  of  ,  18 — , 

I  awoke  from  sleep,  (the  image  of  death,)  as  I 
have  done  every  day  for  years ;  and,  being 

in  possession  of  my  usual  physical  and  mental 
powers,  I  addressed  myself  to  the  business  of  the 
day.  I  look  back,  and  some  of  the  events  of 
yesterday  come  to  remembrance, — where  I  went, 
what  I  did,  whom  I  saw,  what  I  heard,  what  I 
left  unfinished,  and  why.  I  look  forward,  and 
what  requires  prompt  attention  to-day  is  con- 
sidered,— an  engagement  to  fulfil,  a  friend  to  see, 
an  inquiry  to  make,  a  work  to  do.  AU  this 
implies  the  powers  of  reflection  and  anticipation, — 
memory,  hope,  fear,  regret  and  desire, — and  in- 
volves relations  to  those  around  me.  As  a 
husband,  I  have  duties  and  sympathies  on  which 


164  SOLILOQUY. 

the  happiness  of  others  is  in  no  small  measure 
suspended.  My  speech,  my  temper  and  my  con- 
duct affect,  more  or  less,  the  well-being  of  my 
wife.  As  a  father,  I  have  many  and  weighty 
obligations.  Some  of  these,  natural  affection 
w^ould  prompt  me  to  discharge, — such  as  to  provide 
them  food  and  raiment,  shelter  and  education. 
^But  I  have  passions  and  inclinations  which,  if 
indulged,  would  lead  to  the  neglect  of  my  paternal 
and  conjugal  duties.  These  I  feel  bound  to  curb 
and  repress,  in  order  that  my  home  may  be 
virtuous  and  happy  and  my  example  safe  and  salu- 
tary. I  have  neighbours,  also,  with  whom  I  must 
interchange  kind  offtces.  In  their  prosperity  I 
am  expected  to  rejoice,  and  in  their  reverses  and 
distresses  I  am  to  manifest  my  sympathy  and  do 
what  I  can  for  their  relief  and  comfort.  In  my 
transactions  with  them  I  am  prompted  by  self- 
love  to  take  all  possible  advantage  for  myself; 
but  a  doubt  arises  within  me,  (not  of  my  seeking, 
but  spontaneously,)  whether  this  is  right.  Are 
not  his  interests  as  much  to  him  as  mine  are  to 
me  ?  If  my  interest  only  is  cared  for  in  this 
matter,  only  Im  may  be   cared  for  in  our  next  ' 


SOLILOQUY.  165 

transaction.  Is  there  not  some  law  to  regulate 
our  conduct  towards  each  other  ? 

I  extend  my  view  beyond  my  immediate 
neighbourhood.  I  am  a  citizen, — one  of  a  large 
community.  There  are  laws  which  I  am  expected 
to  obey.  They  have  been  established,  it  may  be, 
ages  before  I  was  born, — I  may  not  know  when, 
or  by  whom,  or  on  what  principles ;  but  still  I  am 
to  obey  them  or  suffer  the  prescribed  penalty. 
These  laws  are  for  my  protection  as  well  as  for 
my  government.  They  restrain  me  from  injuring 
my  neighbour,  but  at  the  same  time  they  forbid 
his  injuring  me.  If  we  were  both  without  law, 
we  should  then  have  only  our  own  strength  and 
skill  for  our  protection  :  the  weakest  would  be 
trampled  upon,  and,  as  it  is  among  savage  tribes 
or  with  the  brute  race,  "  might  would  make  right." 

All  these  parties  to  whom  I  have  referred — 
my  wife,  my  children,  my  neighbours  and  my 
fellow-citizens — are  endowed  with  life,  capacities 
and  susceptibilities  similar  to  my  own.  We  have 
like  emotions  of  love  and  hate,  joy  and  sorrow,  hope 
and  despair.  To  acquire  wealth  or  distinction; 
to  enjoy  the  pleasures  of  sense ;  to  gratify  curi- 
osity ;  to  preserve  or  regain  health ;  to  promote 


166  SOLILOQUY. 

the  happiness  and  well-being  of  others  :  these  are 
among  the  ends  and  objects  which  occupy  the 
mind.  But  there  are  some  points  in  the  survey 
of  the  world  around  me  that  are  very  perplexing. 
^I  see  monstrous  oppression  and  fraud ;  the  wicked 
plot  successfully  against  the  just;  violence  and 
treachery  triumph  over  truth  and  right ;  innocence 
is  overwhelmed  in  the  consequences  of  guilt ;  the 
godly  perish  in  the  midst  of  their  days,  while  the 
corrupt  and  vile  live  to  old  age.  The  whole 
scene  is  one  of  apparent  disorder  and  tumult  and 
lawlessness.  Yet  still  there  are  unequivocal 
indications  of  the  existence  of  a  controlling 
power.  The  sea,  in  its  utmost  fury,  has  never 
passed  the  bounds  assigned  to  it;  and  the  vio- 
lence of  human  passions  has  never  been  suffered 
to  desolate  the  earth.  Even  death — the  great 
destroyer — is  restricted  by  an  inexorable  law, 
so  that  his  conquests  can  never  exceed  a  certain 
range.  The  population  of  the  globe  is  not  at 
one  time  ten  hundred  millions,  then  eight,  or 
six,  and  then  ten  again.  Though  pestilence  and 
war  and  famine  make  fearful  havoc  among  some 
portions  of  the  human  family,  there  is  evidently 
a  compensating  and  regulating  power  in  existence, 


SOLILOQUY.  167 

SO  that  in  a  series  of  years  the  number  is  not 
essentially  varied. 

I  perceive,  too,  a  wonderful  uniformity  not  only 
in  the  births  and  deaths,  but  also  -in  the  sex,  and 
in  the  general  equality  of  the  sexes,  of  succes- 
sive generations,  indicating,  as  I  must  suppose,  a 
uniform  law  by  which  these  contingencies  are 
governed ;  and,  whatever  that  law  is,  it  is  obviously 
anterior  in  date  to  the  existence  of  its  subjects. 

As  another  evidence  of  such  a  power,  I  notice 
that  a  limit  is  set  to  human  agency,  whether  for 
good  or  evil.  The  righteous  are  not  all  cut  off; 
nor  are  the  days  of  the  wicked  always  prolonged. 
If  the  Davids  were  all  to  die  at  thirty-five  and 
the  Ahabs  to  live  to  seventy, — if  the  Elizabeth 
Frys  were  to  be  removed  in  the  noontide  of  life 
and  the  Mary  Wollstonecrafts  to  be  preserved  to 
old  age, — we  might  well  fold  our  hands  and  hang 
our  heads.  But,  taking  one  generation  with 
another,  we  find  that  the  righteous  and  the 
wicked — like  the  tares  and  the  wheat  in  the 
same  field — are  cut  down  together.  In  all  com- 
munities there  may  be  seven  thousand  (more  or 
less)  that  have  not  bowed  the  knee  to  Baal. 

Let  me  now  enlarge  the  sphere  of  my  observa- 


IBS  SOLILOQUY. 

tion.  The  human  family j  though  the  chief  objects 
of  attention  in  many  respects,  are  by  no  means 
the  ONLY  ones  within  my  view.  There  are  count- 
less orders  of  inferior  creatures,  from  those 
w^ho  in  powers  of  instinct  and  imitation  come 
nearest  to  the  lowest  grade  of  humanity,  down  to 
the  creatures  whose  claim  to  animal  life  can  be 
determined  only  by  the  most  minute  microscopical 
research.  In  every  individual  of  these  innumer- 
able orders  there  is  discernible  a  uniform  and 
invariable  law  of  structure  and  motion.  The 
same  is  true  of  the  vegetable  world.  The  laws 
of  existence  and  growth,  of  decay  and  renovation, 
are  as  obviously  active  and  controlling  in  the 
daisy  as  in  the  oak, — in  the  fly  as  in  the  elephant. 

So  of  the  more  general  phenomena  of  this 
lower  creation.  What  could  add  to  the  evidence 
we  already  possess  that  the  succession  of  the 
seasons,  the  alternation  of  day  and  night,  and  the 
endlessly- varied  provisions  for  the  demands  of 
nature,  animate  and  inanimate,  are  the  result  of 
an  established,  pre-existing  order  or  law  ? 

The  same  conclu§jpn  is  still  more  irresistibly 
forced  upon  us  if  we  consider  the  wonders  of  the 
worlds  above  us.     It  is  impossible  to  account  for 


SOLILOQUY.  169 

the  harmony  and  precision  with  which  these  vast 
bodies  pass  and  repass  through  the  boundless 
fields  of  space,  on  any  hypothesis  but  that  of  a 
law  independent  of  themselves,  by  which  all  their 
orbits  are  fixed  and  their  revolutions  appointed. 

Were  we  to  see  two  or  three  hundred  first- 
class  ships-of-war  launched  upon  an  inland  sea,  like 
that  of  Gahlee, — which  was  in  its  greatest  extent 
perhaps  fourteen  or  fifteen  miles  long  and  seven 
or  eight  wide, — and  should  see  them  driven  by 
fierce  winds  in  various  and  often  opposite  direc- 
tions, passing  each  other  night  and  day  with  incon- 
ceivable velocity  of  motion,  oftentimes  almost  graz- 
ing sides,  but  never  coming  in  collision, — and  all 
this  with  not  a  soul  on  board  any  of  them  to  direct 
or  change  their  course, — we  should  feel  compelled 
to  acknowledge  the  presence  among  them  of  some 
mysterious  controlling,  though  unseen,  power. 
And  is  there  less  evidence  of  the  presence  of 
such  a  power  in  the  motions  of  the  sun,  moon 
and  stars,  rolling  in  all  their  vastness  through 
illimitable  space,  so  nearly  in  conjunction,  yet 
never  impinging  each  other  ? 

With   the  evidence  we  have  from  reason  and 
analogy  of  the  existence  of  a  law  regulating  the 

15 


170  SOLILOQUY. 

world  of  matter,  it  would  be  preposterous  to  sup- 
pose that  the  functions  of  the  mind — so  much  more 
grand  and  mysterious  in  its  powers  and  relations, 
reaching  into  eternity — are  subject  to  no  law. 
Whatever  reasoning  convinces  us  that  natural 
phenomena  around  us  occur  in  obedience  to 
natural  laws  will  be  still  more  conclusive  to 
show  that  the  moral  phenomena  within  us  are 
subject  to  a  moral  law. 

How  are  the  provisions  and  sanctions  of  such  a 
law  to  be  ascertained,  but  by  a  revelation  from 
the  lawgiver?  Assuming  that  the  constitution 
of  our  moral  nature  presupposes  the  existence  of 
such  a  law,  would  not  the  absence  of  it  be  a 
greater  mystery  than  any  thing  could  be  in  its 
provisions  or  in  the  manner  of  its  revelation  ? 

This  mode  of  reasoning  is  not  unlike  that  of 
the  great  discoverer  of  this  Western  continent. 
Its  existence  was  necessary,  as  he  thought,  to 
render  consistent  and  harmonious,  in  all  its  parts, 
the  received  theory  as  to  the  configuration  and 
motion  of  the  earth.  So  we  have  certain  data 
with  respect  to  the  government  of  the  material 
world ;  and  these  demand  corresponding  data 
respecting  the  government  of  the  immaterial  and 


SOLILOQUY.  171 

invisible  world.     The  absence  of  the  latter  would 
almost  throw  discredit  on  the  former. 

Standing,  then,  where  I  do  to-day,  and  accus- 
tomed as  I  have  been  all  mj  life  long  to  the  social 
relations  before  mentioned,  I  am  led  to  look  more 
narrowly  at  my  moral  obligations  and  connections. 
I  find,  upon  turning  my  view  within,  that  I  have 
a  sense  of  right  and  wrong.  I  cannot  dehberately 
form  a  purpose  to  do  wrong  without  a  sensible 
check  from  this  source.  Andj  on  the  other 
hand,  I  am  conscious  of  self-approbation  when  I 
do  right,  just  because  it  is  right.  This  sense  is 
quickened  or  blunted  in  proportion  as  I  yield  to 
it  or  resist  it. 

Upon  a  review  of  my  life,  I  note  here  and 
there,  and  at  very  short  intervals,  acts  which  I 
cannot  but  disapprove.  They  were  plainly  the 
fruits  of  a  selfish,  deceitful,  corrupt,  or  malignant 
principle.  Both  the  act  and  the  principle  are 
odious  to  me.  I  am  conscious  that  I  was  per- 
fectly free  to  do  those  acts  or  to  refrain  from 
doing  them.  In  doing  them  I  voluntarily  yielded 
to  present  temptation,  which  I  might  have  resisted 
in  those  cases  as  easily  as  I  have  done  in  others. 
I  overreached  a  neighbour  in  a  bargain.    I  knew  it 


172  THE    LAW. 

at  the  time  and  exulted  in  it.  I  was  conscious 
then,  as  I  am  conscious  now,  of  the  selfish  con- 
siderations which  actuated  me.  I  was  under  no 
more  necessity  to  overreach  him  then  than  I  am 
under  now  to  rob  or  murder  him.  Nor  have  I 
any  power  of  resisting  the  temptation  to  do  these 
last  acts  which  I  did  not  possess  to  resist  the 
temptation  to  do  the  former.  There  is  a  law, 
then,  within  me — a  part  of  my  original  nature — 
which  approves  what  is  right  and  disapproves 
what  is  wrong.  I  have  reason  to  believe  that 
this  law  is  common  to  my  race, — that  the  untu- 
tored savage,  the  besotted  heathen,  the  pagan 
idolater,  and  the  deluded  Mohammedan  are  as 
really,  though  perhaps  not  so  clearly,  conscious 
of  a  distinction  in  motives  and  conduct  as  I  am. 
This  law,  then,  must  be  anterior  to,  or  coeval  with, 
my  being.  But,  so  far  as  I  can  learn,  such  an 
innate  sense  of  right  and  wrong  has  been  common 
to  all  previous  generations,  from  the  first  created 
human  being  until  now ;  and  hence  I  infer  that, 
whatever  it  is,  it  had  an  existence  prior  to  such 
first  creation.  As  a  basis  of  this  law  there  must 
be  some  standard  of  moral  character  and  conduct. 
It  may  be  no  more  in  our  power  to  account  for 


THE    LAW.  173 

the  presence  of  such  a  faculty  as  conscience  in  a 
man  than  for  its  absence  from  a  tree  or  a  stone, 
except  on  the  ground  that  it  belongs  to  the  nature  of 
the  former  and  does  not  Mong  to  the  nature  of  the 
latter ;  just  as  we  say  that   sap  belongs  to  i^^ 
nature  of  a  tree,  and  blood  to  that  of  an  animal; 
and  to  interchange  them  would  require  an  inter- 
change of  their  whole  character  and  organization. 
Were  it  left  to  our  own   unaided  powers  to 
determine  what  this  law  is,  who  is  its  author, 
what  are  its  sanctions,  and  with  what  administra- 
tion or   government   it   is  connected,    we  might 
fall  into  all  the  vagaries,  superstitions  and  idola- 
trous  devices  of  heathenism.    We  should   have 
good  spirits  and  evil  without  number,  represented 
in  all  the  hideous  and  revolting  forms  to  which  a 
perverted  fancy  can  give  birth.     We  should  try 
to  divest  it  of  all  authority  to  interfere  with  the 
indulgence   of  our  most   corrupt   and    degrading 
passions.     We  should  resort  to  every  expedient", 
however   absurd    and    vain,  to   disarm   it  of  its 
sanctions  and  to  bring  down  its  authority  to  the 
level  of  our  own  desires  and  appetites  ;  and  then, 
with  altars  and  sacrifices  of  our  own  prescription 
and   gods   after   our   own  fancy,  the   conscience 


174  A   GUIDE. 

would  inevitably  become  stupefied,  and  the  whole 
moral  nature  at  once  come  into  bondage  to  the 
prince  of  darkness. 

But,  as  an"  individual,  I  have  been  singularly 
favoured.  At  the  threshold  of  my  being  I  re- 
ceived a  volume  which,  as  I  was  assured,  dis- 
closes the  origin  of  this  law.  It  shows  me 
whence  I  came,  what  I  am,  and  whither  I  am 
going.  It  sets  before  me  the  principles  and 
motives  which  ought  to  govern  me.  It  warns 
me  of  my  bane  and  antidote;  points  out  my 
danger  and  my  refuge ;  reveals  to  me  the  traits 
of  my  character,  the  responsibilities  under  which 
I  act,  and  the  destiny  that  awaits  me.  It  opens 
before  the  eye  of  my  faith  a  boundless  future,  fuU 
of  glory  and  blessedness  to  some  and  of  remorse 
and  suffering  to  others. 

This  book  is  presented  to  me  as  a  revelation 
from  God  my  Maker,  and  as  my  only  and  suffi- 
cient rule  of  faith  and  duty.  From  habit  and 
education,  I  have  been  accustomed  to  regard  it  as 
of  supreme  authority ;  and  why  should  I  not  so 
regard  it  ? 

One  point  is  clear, — viz.,  that  whatever  claims 
to  be  a  revelation  from  heaven  must  be  received  m 


THE    BIBLE.  175 

a  tvliole  or  rejected  aB  a  luliole.  If  what  we  know 
under  the  name  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  of  the 
Old  and  New  Testaments  is  not  a  revelation  from 
God,  then  it  is  quite  clear  that  we  are  without 
any  written  revelation ;  and  if  it  is  such  a  revela- 
tion, these  writings  must  be  received  in  their 
integrity;  for  if  it  is  coi;itended  that  only  a  portion 
of  them  is  to  be  received  as  of  divine  origin,  it 
is  obvious  that  we  have  no  authoritative  test  by 
which  to  determine  what  portion  is  from  God  and 
what  is  not.  Human  reason  would  be  a  very  un- 
certain guide ;  for  it  is  its  blindness  and  perversion, 
chiefly,  that  make  a  revelation  necessary.  It 
would  put  an  end  to  the  order  of  a  household 
were  the  children  and  servants  allowed  to  de- 
termine how  much  of  a  rule  or  command,  supposed 
to  be  from  the  father  and  master,  is  to  be  ob- 
served. If  there  is  nothing  in  the  command 
clearly  inconsistent  with  his  known  will,  however 
difficult  it  may  appear  to  comprehend  the  reason 
or  propriety  of  it  or  to  reconcile  it  with  human 
notions  of  wisdom  or  goodness,  it  is  to  be  re- 
ceived and  obeyed. 

Now,  in  respect  to  the  Bible,  two  things  will 
be  conceded  : — 1.  That  it  is  either  from  God,  or  it 


176  ALL   OR    NONE. 

is  not;  and  (2)  there  is  no  evidence  to  prove 
that  one  portion  of  it  is  from  God  which  is  not 
equally  available  to  show  that  it  is  all  from  God. 
For  example,  if  it  is  declared  that  "  the  soul  that 
sinneth,  it  shall  die  ;"  or  that  "  all  have  sinned  and 
coine  short  of  the  glory  of  God ;"  or  that  -'^  God  so 
loved  the  world  that  he  gave  his  only-begotten 
Son,  that  whosoever  believeth  on  him  should  not 
perish;  but  have  everlasting  life ;"  or,  to  the  same 
purport,  in  other  words,  "he  that  believeth  on 
the  Son  hath  everlasting  life ;  but  he  that  be- 
lieveth not  the  Son  shall  not  see  life,  but  the 
wrath  of  God  abideth  on  him,"  we  must  admit 
or  reject  all  or  none.  For  there  is  no  evidence 
to  satisfy  us  that  either  of  these  declarations 
is  from  God,  which  does  not  show  witti  equal 
conclusiveness  that  they  all  are  from  him.  There 
is  no  evidence  of  a  future  world  of  glory  w^hich 
does  not  prove  also  and  equally  a  future  world 
of  woe.  There  is  no  evidence  in  favour  of  the 
resurrection  of  the  dead  better  than  that  which 
proves  a  day  of  judgment.  God's  mercy  and 
benevolence  rest  on  the  same  testimony  that 
proves  his  justice  and  holiness.  There  is  nothing 
to   support  a   hope  of  salvation   for   a   believer 


ALL   OR   NONE. 


177 


which  does  not  serve  equally  to  cut  off  all  hope 
for  the  unbeliever. 

The  same  course  of  argument  applies  with 
equal  force  to  all  subjects  of  revelation.  If  the 
doctrine  of  the  incarnation  of  the  Son  of  God  is 
rejected,  so  also  must  be  the  doctrine  of  the 
atonement.  If  we  deny  "  the  great  mystery  of 
godhness,— God  manifest  in  the  flesh,"  we  must  be 
prepared  to  deny  any  other  mode  of  divine  inter- 
position, and,  indeed,  the  necessity  of  any  such 
interposition  ;  and  thence  will  follow  the  denial  of 
any  divine  law,  and,  of  course,  the  denial  of  sin, 
which  is  the  transgression  of  such  a  law. 

I  have  sometimes  tried  to  fancy  what  my  con- 
dition and  prospects  as  a  moral  being  would  be  if 
it  were  shown  satisfactorily  that  no  confidence 
can  be  placed  in  the  divine  authority  of  the 
Scriptures.  The  moral  power  and  obligations  of 
which  I  am  conscious  constitute  the  noblest  part 
of  my  nature  ;  but  with  what  or  whom  these  high 
attributes  connect  me,  I  have  (in  the  case  sup- 
posed) no  means  of  determining.  I  am  not  self- 
existent.  On  the  contrary,  I  am  helpless, — en- 
tirely dependent.  So  little  do  I  know,  and  so 
restricted  are  my  powers,  that  the  very  means  I 


M 


178  A   PERPLEXITY. 

take  to  preserve  my  life  may  hasten  its  extinction. 
I  can  lay  plans  and  form  purposes  reaching  far  into 
the  future ;  but  where  I  shall  be  when  the  clock 
strikes  the  next  hour  is  as  unknown  to  me  as  if 
there  were  no  future.  I  am  conscious  of  having 
left  undone  many  things  that  I  ought  to  have  done, 
as  well  as  of  having  done  many  that  I  ought  not  to 
have  done ;  but  where  the  law  is  that  I  have  thus 
violated,  or  who  is  the  author  of  it,  or  w^hat  is 
the  nature  of  his  government  or  of  my  relations 
to  him  or  it,  I  am  utterly  ignorant.  There  is  a 
mysterious,  undefined  apprehension  of  an  invisible, 
superior  power,  of  which  I  cannot  rid  myself.  I 
fear  that  evil  awaits  me,  because  I  know  I  deserve 
it.  But  wdio  there  is  for  me  to  propitiate,  or  by 
what  sacrifices  I  may  avert  his  wrath,  who  can 
tell  ?  And  though  the  light  of  nature  may  reveal 
to  me  a  great  First  Cause, — the  Creator,  upholder 
and  governor  of  the  vast  fabric  of  the  visible 
universe, — there  would  still  remain  the  old  perplex- 
ing inquiry,  •^WhereAvith  shall  I  come  before  the 
Lord  and  bow  myself  before  the  high  God  ?  Shall 
I  come  before  him  with  burnt-offerings  and  calves 
of  a  year  old  ?  Will  the  Lord  be  pleased  with 
thousands  of  rams,  or  ten  thousands  of  rivers  of 


PLAIN    TRUTHS.  179 

oil?  Shall  I  give  my  first-born  for  my  trans- 
gression, the  fruit  of  my  bddy  for  the  sin  of  my 
soul  ?"  What  mystery  does  Holy  Scripture  con- 
tain or  propose  to  my  faith  so  unfathomable  as 
this  would  be, — that  the  Creator  of  such  a  being 
as  I  am  has  left  me  without  any  positive  revela- 
tion of  his  moral  attributes,  or  of  my  real  relations 
and  responsibleness  as  a  moral  creature  ? 

I  reject  the  monstrous  supposition,  and  return  to 
the  Bible  again  as  a  fountain  of  light  and  peace. 
I  turn  over  its  sacred  pages;  and,  while  I  find 
things  hard  to  be  understood, — some  because  my 
moral  and  intellectual  powers  are  limited  as  well 
as  perverted  and  corrupted,  and  others  because 
of  my  lack  of  spiritual  discernment,  and  not  a 
few  because  of  their  very  nature  being  above  all 
finite  comprehension  and  placed  before  us  to  try 
our  faith  and  lead  us  to  adore  in  silence  what 
even  the  angels  desire  to  look  into  and  are  not 
permitted, — there  is  enough,  level  to  the  meane&t 
capacity  and  within  the  grasp  of  the  weakest 
faith,  to  call  forth  our  unceasing  gratitude  and 
praise.  Among  these  plain  truths  let  me  specify 
the  following,  and  beg  you  to  ascertain,  bv  a  care- 


180  PLAIN   TRUTHS. 

fill  examination  of  the  inspired  volume,  if  they 
are  not  unequivocally  revealed  : — 

1.  That  there  is  an  eternal,  self-existent  God, — 
the  former  of  our  bodies  and  the  father  of  our 
spirits,  the  giver  of  every  good  and  perfect  gift, 
with  whom  there  is  no  variableness,  neither 
shadow  of  turning. 

2.  That  he  created  man  in  his  own  image, 
perfect  in  his  moral  nature,  and  gave  him  a  law 
as  the  rule  of  his  life.  If  he  obeyed,  he  and  his 
posterity  should  retain  the  image  and  favour  of 
God ;  but,  if  otherwise,  he  and  they  should  forfeit 
both.  Why  God  saw  fit  to  suspend  my  destiny 
on  the  act  of  another  is  a  vain  and  useless 
inquiry.  I  came  into  the  world  as  one  of  the 
posterity  of  this  first  transgressor,  and,  being  a 
partaker  of  his  nature,  am  liable  to  the  same 
condemnation. 

3.  That  immediately  after  this  first  apostasy  it 
was  plainly  intimated  that  a  way  should  be 
opened  by  which  the  forfeited  favour  of  God  could 
be  recovered ;  and  though  the  earthly  paradise  was 
closed  and  guarded  by  flaming  swords,  to  show 
that  there  is  no  way  by  which  man  can  of  him- 
self return  to  that  communion  with  God  which  he 


PLAIN   TRUTHS.  181 

enjoyed  before  the  fall,  yet  a  scheme  of  mercy 
was  dimly  disclosed,  in  types  and  symbols,  pro- 
gressively opened  to  patriarchs  and  prophets,  and 
by  them  spread  before  the  world,  and  at  last  fully 
developed  in  the  person  and  offices  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ. 

4.  That  the  scheme  of  redemption  embodies 
profound  mysteries.  How  is  it  that  a  holy  law 
is  honoured  and  a  just  government  vindicated  by 
inflicting  on  a  perfectly  innocent  being  the  dread- 
ful punishment  due  to  the  guilty,  we  know  not. 
That  God  was  manifest  in  the  flesh,  justified  in 
the  spirit,  seen  of  angels,  believed  on  in  the 
world,  and  received  up  into  glory,  is,  and  ever 
will  be,  the  great  mystery  of  godliness.  The 
Scriptures  plainly  declare  that^  Christ  died  for  the 
ungodly,  and  that  God  commendeth  his  love  to 
us,  in  that,  while  we  Avere  yet  sinners,  Christ  died 
for  us.  Such  plain,  unequivocal  declarations, 
though  unsupported  by  argument  or  illustration, 
settle  all  my  doubts.  If  I  receive  the  faithful 
saying  "that  Jesus  Christ  came  into  the  world  to 
save  sinners,"  I  receive  the  doctrine  of  the  atone- 
ment in  its  widest  sense ;  and  I  cannot  reject  this 
without   at   the   same   time   discrediting,  if  not 

16 


182  PLAIN    TRUTHS. 

denying,  the  whole  volume  of  inspiration.  But 
the  doctrine  comes  to  me  fortified  and  commended 
by  the  stern  necessities  of  my  own  nature.  It  is 
an  acknowledged  evidence  of  the  immortality  of 
the  soul  that  a  desire  of  immortality  and  a  dread 
of  the  extinction  of  our  being  is  almost  or  quite 
universal.  I  see  my  felloAv-men  dying  around 
me.  For  many  years  death  has  been  a  familiar 
object  to  my  eyes;  and  it  is  rather  a  matter  of 
wonder  that  I  am  in  the  land  of  the  living.  My 
grandparents  and  the  generations  that  preceded 
them  have  all  returned  to  the  dust.  My  children 
are  treading  upon  my  heels  \  and  very  soon  they 
will  turn  from  my  grave,  only  to  find  their  own. 
It  is  not  the  mere  parting  with  life  or  the  pain  of 
dissolution  that  occasions  me  anxiety  or  appre- 
hension in  the  prospect  of  death.  It  is  the  re- 
tribution of  the  future !  I  cannot  forget  that  I 
have  sinned  against  God ;  and  how  must  a  sloth- 
ful and  unprofitable  servant  be  dealt  with  in  the 
day  of  reckoning? 

It  is  an  easy  matter  for  me  to  find  objections 
to  the  method  of  salvation  revealed  to  me  in  the 
Scriptures.  I  cannot  understand  why  some  other 
mode,  equally  illustrative  of  the  divine  holiness 


LIMITS   OF    KNOWLEDGE.  183 

and  compassion,  might  not  have  been  devised, 
without  such  a  sacrifice ;  nor,  indeed,  wliy  God 
in  his  mere  sovereignty  could  not  pardon  sin 
as  easily  as  punish  it.  How  my  faith  (which  is 
God's  gift)  unites  my  spiritual  nature  to  Christ 
in  such  a  sense  as  that  he  becomes  mine  and  1 
become  his,  or  how  this  faith  is  wrought  in  me,  I 
know  not.  How  the  new  or  spiritual  birth  differs 
from  the  natural  birth  in  respect  to  my  action, 
agency  or  co-operation ;  whether  I  could  avoid 
being  born  again,  any  more  than  I  could  avoid 
being  born  to  my  present  existence ;  and  whether 
I  am  any  more  able  to  accomplish  the  former 
than  I  was  the  latter ;  and,  hence,  what  are  the 
sole  prerogatives  of  the  Almighty,  and  what  is 
the  liberty  of  the  human  Avill,— these  and  a  legion 
of  similar  inquiries  can  be  easily  raised  and 
with  difficulty  answered ;  but  I  am  driven  back 
from  them  all  to  the  oppressive  consciousness  of 
ill  desert,  and  a  painful  conviction  of  my  exposure 
to  the  penalty  of  a  holy  law.  All  my  doubts 
and  difficulties,  solved  or  unsolved,  do  not  shed  a 
ray  of  light  across  the  darkness  of  my  prospect 
nor  furnish  any  refuge  for  my  guilty,  self-con 
demned,  affrighted  soul.     When  I  seriously  think 


184  DOCILITY. 

that  I  am  in  the  hands  of  a  righteous  God,  who 
abhors  iniquity,  and  that  none  but  the  pure  in 
heart  shall  see  him  in  peace,  my  soul  is  over- 
whelmed, and  I  utter  the  involuntary  cry,  "  What 

SHALL  I  DO  TO  BE  SAVED  ?" 

Is  there  any  oracle  to  which  I  can  repair  for  a 
reliable  answer  to  this  pregnant  question  but  the 
Sacred  Scriptures?  Must  I  not  adopt  the  lan- 
guage of  the  perplexed  disciple,  "Lord,  to 
whom  shall  we  go  ?  Thou  hast  the  words  of 
eternal  life." 

And  with  what  temper  shall  I  consult  this 
sacred  volume?  Surely  not  in  a  proud,  self- 
righteous,  cavilling  spirit,  suggesting  difficulties 
and  demanding  explanations  at  every  step,  or 
passing  judgment  on  the  wisdom  or  benevolence 
of  my  Creator's  dealings  with  me.  But  I  must 
receive  its  teachings  in  an  humble  and  teachable 
spirit,  filled  with  shame  and  sorrow  for  my  in- 
gratitude and  disobedience,  yet  encouraged  and  em- 
boldened by  the  gracious  promises  of  my  heavenly 
Father.  I  must  submit  myself  unreservedly  to 
his  disposal,  and  accept  salvation  as  the  free  gift 
of  boundless  grace, — a  free  gift  to  me,  but  pur- 
chased at  an  infinite  price  that  it  might  become 


A    FREE    SALVATION.  185 

such.  Yes ;  a  free  gift,  Avith  as  much  mystery  in 
the  dispensation  of  it  as  he  pleases.  Only  let  it 
be  salvation,  only  let  it  bring  relief  to  my 
burdened  conscience  and  assure  me  that  my 
sins  are  forgiven  and  my  peace  made  with  God, 
and  the  freeness  of  it  shall  but  swell  higher  my 
emotions  of  gratitude  and  my  song  of  praise. 
For  what  should  I  do  if  it  were  not  free  ?  How 
could  I  atone  for  a  single  violation  of  God's  holy 
law  ?  I  may  think  I  am  rich  and  increased  in 
goods  and  have  need  of  nothing ;  and  so  the  poor 
maniac  may  pace  the  halls  of  the  hospital  with 
the  pretensions  of  a  queen  or  a  Croesus ;  but  the 
delusion  in  "either  case  is  too  obvious  to  deceive 
a  sound  mind.  He  who  knows  me  better  than  I 
know  myself  tells  me  that  I  am  poor,  and 
wretched,  and  miserable,  and  blind,  and  naked ; 
and  he  counsels  me  to  buy  of  him  gold  tried  in 
the  fire,  that  I  may  be  rich ;  and  white  raiment, 
that  I  may  be  clothed;  and  to  anoint  my  eyes 
with  eye-salve,  that  I  may  see.  And  when  I  tell 
him  that  I  have  nothing  with  which  to  buy  these 
munificent  endowments,  he  offers  them  to  my 
acceptance  without  money  and  without  price  ! 
Is  not   this  an  unexaggerated   representation 

16* 


186  ^     A    FINAL    REFUGE. 

of  the  provisions  of  gospel  mercy?  Do  I  mis- 
conceiva  their  purport  ?  And  can  I  err  in  giving 
them  a  cordial  reception?  Am  I  not  prompted 
by  such  •  an  exhibition  of  my  danger  and  my 
refuge  to  exclaim — 

"  How  sad  my  state  by  nature  is  ! 
My  sin,  how  deep  its  stains ! 
How  Satan  binds  my  captive  soul 
Fast  in  his  treacherous  chains  ! 

"  But  hark !  a  voice  of  sovereign  grace 
Sounds  from  the  sacred  word : — 
Ho  !  thou  despairing  rebel,  come 
And  trust  upon  the  Lord. 

"My  soul  obeys  the  heavenly  call 
And  runs  to  this  relief. 
I  would  believe  thy  promise,  Lord ! 
Oh,  help  mine  unbelief! 

*'  A  guilty,  weak  and  helpless  worm, 
On  thy  kind  arms  I  fall. 
My  Lord !  my  strength  !  my  righteousness  ! 
My  Jesus !  and  my  all.''' 

Do  not  say  that  there  is  no  argument  in  all 
this, — nothing  to  explain  what  is  mysterious  or 
to  reconcile  what  seem  to  be  inconsistencies.  It 
is  an  argument  to  the  necessity  of  our  nature. 
The  condemned  criminal  is  beside  himself  who 
declines  to  accept  a  pardon  till  he  has  investigated 


A   FINAL  REFUGE.    ^  187 

the  credentials  of  the  officer  who  brings  it  to  him, 
or  the  competency  of  the  government  to  grant  it. 
His  choice  is  between  what  is  offered  to  him  of 
clemency  and  what  is  due  to  him  as  a  convict. 
There  is  nothing  to  argue  about.  He  knows  that 
he  is  condemned  and  that  the  proffered  pardon 
rescues  him  from  the  impending  penalty.  It  is 
as  if  one  stood  at  the  junction  of  two  roads,  one 
of  which  he  knows  will  certainly  lead  him  whither 
he  would  go,  and  the  other  in  a  contrary  direc- 
tion ;  and  does  he  need  an  argument  to  persuade 
him  which  to  take  ? 

Religion  in  its  very  nature  appeals  to  human 
consciousness  rather  than  human  reason.  It  as- 
sumes what  none  can  have  the  hardihood  to  deny, — 
that  sin  and  suffering  are  inseparable  companions. 
It  comes  to  me  in  my  guilt,  and  offers  me  pardon ; 
in  my  weakness,  and  offers  me  strength ;  in  the 
death  of  trespasses  and  sins,  and  offers  me  eternal 
life ;  in  my  alienation  from  the  family  and  favour 
of  God,  and  offers  to  restore  me  to  both,  so  that 
I  shall  become  the  son  and  heir  of  the  Lord  of 
heaven  and  earth.  If  this  is  not  all  truly  and 
scripturally  stated,  then  no  child  of  Adam  has 
any  way  of  escape   from   the   consequences  of 


188  THE    MADNESS   OF   UNBELIEF. 

violating  God's  holy  law.  If  his  law  can  be 
violated  with  impunity,  then  it  is  no  law ;  and  if 
there  is  no  law,  there  is  no  government;  and 
thus  we  are  brought  to  the  dark  and  dismal 
cavern  of  atheism. 

^  Let  me  ask,  again,  What  greater  mystery  does 
the  plan  of  salvation  present  than  that  of  a 
reasonal)le,  immortal  man,  on  the  brink  of  eternal 
luin,  asking  explanations  of  the  divine  govern- 
ment ?  A  free  pardon,  obtained  through  the  infi- 
nite sufferings  of  another,  is  offered  him  freely,  and 
he  holds  it  in  reserve  till  his  doubts  are  satisfied 
as  to  the  wisdom,  justice  and  consistency  of  the 
divine  administration !  The  wonder,  is  not  that  he 
is  exercising  his  intellectual  powers  in  ascertain- 
ing his  duty  and  the  reasonableness  of  God's  claims 
upon  him ;  but  that  he  is  so  blind  to  his  forlorn 
condition  as  an  offender  against  God's  holy  law, 
and  so  voluntarily  insensible  to  the  surpassing 
love  of  God  in  the  plan  of  redemption,  that  he 
does  not  exclaim,  "  Oh,  the  depth  of  the  riches 
both  of  the  wisdom  and  knowledge  of  God !  How 
unsearchable  are  his  judgments,  and  his  ways  past 
finding  out !" 

There  are  few  objects  in  the  world  more  instruct- 


THE    GERM    OF    FAITH.  189 

ive  than  a  little  cliildj  with  its  tiny,  clean,  plump 
hands,  grasping  the  folds  of  its  mother's  dress? 
What  fearless  confidence  does  that  little  handful 
of  frail  silk  or  cotton  inspire !  And  what  is  it 
bat  the  incipiency  of  faith, — that  principle  which 
in  its  maturer  growth  and  divine  virtue  made  the 
glorious  company  of  the  apostles,  the  goodly 
fellowship  of  the  prophets  and  the  noble  army  of 
martyrs  ?  Well  would  it  be  if  as  that  little  hand 
grows  larger  and  leaner  and  stronger  the  soul 
could  grasp  with  equal  confidence  objects  of  faith 
suited  to  advancing  years.  Well  would  it  be  for 
us  all  if  we  could  step  upward  from  one  projection 
of  the  cliff  to  another  and  higher,  until  our  feet 
are  firmly  planted  on  the  Rock  of  ages. 

I  am  sure  that  a  single  glimpse  of  our  igno- 
rance and  weakness  must  prompt  each  of  us  to 
say,— 

"  My  soul,  wait  thou  only  upon  God ; 
For  my  expectation  is  from  him  : 
He  only  is  my  rock  and  my  salvation, 
He  is  my  defence.     I  shall  not  be  moved : 
In  God  is  my  salvation  and  my  e"lory ; 
The  R0€K  of  my  strength,  and  my  refuge,  is  in  God." 


190  THE   NEW   BIRTH. 


CHAPTER  yil. 

Reasonableness  of  the  doctrine  of  regeneration — A  positive  and 
conscious  cTiange — Notable  illustrations — The  early  occurrence 
of  such  a  change  desirable,  and  why —  What  favours  and  what 
hinders  it — Cases — A  natural  question. 

Having  considered  in  our  past  interviews  the 
leading  doctrines  of  the  Christian  faith,  the 
source  from  which  they  are  derive d,  and  their 
adaptedness  to  meet  the  exigencies  of  sinful 
beings  subject  to  the  government  of  an  infinitely 
holy  God,  it  may  be  profitable  to  separate  one  of 
them  from  the  group  and  look  more  particularly 
into  its  claim  to  our  cordial  entertainment. 
And  we  will  take  one  which  lies  at  the  bottom 
of  any  scriptural  system  of  belief.  I  mean  that 
which  is  familiarly  known  under  the  term  of 
REGENERATION  or  the  NEW  BIRTH.  I  hold  that  this 
event  or  crisis  in  the  life  of  the  soul  of  man  is 
not  only  perfectly  reasonable,  but  such  as  the 
analogies  of  God's  providential  government  would 
\^%d.  's  to  expect. 


THE    NEW    BIRTH.  191 

We  have  seen  that  it  is  only  from  Holy  Scrip- 
ture that  we  obtain  any  just  knowledge  of  God 
or  of  his  ways.  If  our  minds  were  unclouded 
and  unperverted,  as  was  the  mind  of  man  before 
his  apostasy,  we  should  learn  his  divine  nature 
and  perfections  by  immediate  communion  with 
him.  But,  with  our  passions  all  disordered  and 
corrupted,  our  affections  roving  after  forbidden 
things,  and  our  whole  u;Loral  nature  alienated 
from  the  source^  of  all  light  and  truth,  we  are 
incapable  of  receiving  correct  notions  of  God's 
character  or  of  our  relations  to  him  otherwise 
than  by  a  direct  revelation.  As  we  have  already 
seen,  the  history  of  our  race  from  the  beginning 
shows  conclusively  that  without  a  revelation  of 
God's  mind  and  will,  such  as  Holy  Scripture 
alone  furnishes,  we  should  strive  in  vain  to  "  find 
out  God."  Assuming,  then,  that  what  we  call 
the  Bible  is  a  true  record  of  what  holy  men  of 
old  spake  under  the  immediate  inspiration  of  the 
Divine  Spirit,  we  must  accept  its-  testimony  not 
only  concerning  God's  character  and  law,  but  also 
concerning  man's  condition  and  estate  under  his 
government.  We  find,  then,  that  man  being  in 
honour  abode  not.    He  transgressed  the  righteous 


192  THE    NEW    BIRTH. 

and  reasonable  law  under  which  he  was  placed, 
and  thus  incurred  its  penalty, — death.  That  con- 
demnation involved  him  and  his  posterity  in 
alienation  from  God  and  in  absolute  unfitness 
for  the  enjoyment  of  holy  duties  or  for  the 
society  of  holy  beings.^ 

The  fountain  being  thus  embittered,  no  sweet 
waters  thereafter  flowed  from  it.  The  tree  thus 
corrupted  could  no  longer  bear  good  fruit ;  for  no 
one  can  bring  a  clean  thing  out  of  an  unclean.  The 
holy  nature  with  which  our  first  parents  were 
endowed  assimilated  them  to  God ;  and,  had  they 
obeyed  the  law  which  was  made  the  test  of  their 
allegiance,  that  nature  would  have  been  trans- 
mitted from  generation  to  generation,  and  our 
world  would  have  been  still  the  garden  of  Eden, 
indefinitely  enlarged  for  the  dwelling-place  of  its 
happy  and  holy  inhabitants.  But,  as  we  have 
seen,  by  the  transgression  of  that  law  they  lost 
the  favour  of  God  and  his  image  in  their  own 
souls,  and,  oU  course,  could  transmit  to  their 
posterity  no  nature  purer  than  their  own.  No 
one  will  deny  that  this  disobedience  of  our 
first  parents  completely  changed  their  moral 
character  and  relations.     It  left  them  in  God's 


UNCONGENIALITIES.  193 

hands  as  their  lawgiver  and  judge,  but  separated 
them  from  him  as  their  friend  and  companion. 
Before  that  woeful  catastrophe,  they  walked  with 
God,  and  his  favour  was  the  hght  of  their  life. 
After  it,  they  hid  themselves  from  his  presence 
and  shrunk  instinctively  from  communion  with 
him.  It  was  in  the  likeness  of  this  ahenated, 
corrupt,  ruined  nature  that  Cain  and  Abel  came 
into  the  world ;  and  the  same  odious  image  have 
all  subsequent  generations  borne. 

Admitting  this  to  be  a  true  account  of  mankind, 
as  an  order  of  God's  creatures,  and  that  God 
possesses  the  attributes  of  hoKness  and  justice 
which  the  Scriptures  ascribe  to  him,  is  it  not 
manifest  that  moral  natures  so  entirely  at  variance 
can  have  no  sympathies,  no  enjoyments,  no  pur- 
suits in  common  ?  Can  there  be  but  one  answer 
to  the  question  of  the  prophet  ? — "  How  can  two 
walk  together  except  they  are  agreed  ?"  or  to  that 
of  the  apostle  ? — "  What  communion  hath  Hght 
with  darkness?  or  what  concord  hath  Christ 
withBehair 

The  case  is  not  very  unlike  that  of  two  per- 
sons whose  natural  faculties,  capacities  and  tastes 
would,  under  ordinary  circumstances,  lead  them 

N    '  17 


194  UNCONGENIALITIES. 

to  the  pursuit  of  similar  objects  and  to  the  enjoy- 
ment of  similar  pleasures,  but  who  have  lived 
from  infancy  in 'entirely  different  conditions.  One 
has  been  accustomed  to  the  purest  air,  famihar 
with  the  most  sublime  mountain  scenery,  and 
ahve  to  all  the  glorious  works  of  the  Creator. 
The  associations  of  the  other  have  extended  but 
little  beyond  the  dark,  narrow,  filthy  alley  in 
which  he  has  what  he  calls  his  home.  The 
former  has  been  drinking  all  his  life  long  from 
the  fountains  of  wisdom  and  knowledge,  and  is 
familiar  with  the  maxims  of  the  greatest  and 
best  of  men.  The  latter  has  spent  his  days  in 
idleness  and  ignorance,  or,  if  he  has  had  access  to 
books,  they  have  been  of  a  character  far  from 
elevating  or  purif3rLng  to  his  nature.  The  former 
has  refined  manners,  and  a  highly-cultivated  taste, 
and  an  exquisite  perception  of  the*  beautiful  in 
nature  and  art.  To  the  latter  all  objects  are  alike 
uninteresting  that  do  not  suggest  some  gratifica- 
tion of  the  animal  appetite  or  favour  the  vulgar 
inclinations  in  which  he  dehghts.  Suppose  these 
two  persons  should  fall  in  company  on  a  journey : 
does  any  one  doubt  that  there  would  be  an  mstant, 
instinctive,  mutual  aversion?     Would  not  each  of 


CJNCONGENIALITIES.  195 

tliem  embrace  the  very  first  opportunity  to  seek 
solitude  or  other  society  ?  How  could  it  be 
otherwise?  What  topics  of  reflection  or  conver- 
sation could  they  have  in  common  ?  What  objects, 
by  the  way,  would  they  be  likely  to  regard  with 
mutual  interest  ? 

But  how  inadequate  is  such  an  illustration  to 
set  forth  the  dissimilarity  in  moral  nature  and 
character  between  our  Creator  and  his  creatures ! 
What  is  man,  that  he  should  be  clean?  He  is 
represented  as  "  abominable  and  filthy"  in  God's 
sight,  and  as  "  drinking  in  iniquity  like  water." 
When  you  hear  such  representations  of  the 
natural  character  of  man  denounced  as  absurd 
and  libellous,  just  consider  whether  these  or  any 
other  terms  can  possibly  express  wider  extremes 
than  holiness  and  sin.  I  will  not  contend  for  a 
form  of  words.  I  am  willing  to  forego  the  phrase 
(more  obnoxious  to  many  than  the  thing)  "total 
depravity,"  which  is  hot  found  in  Scripture.  I 
only  insist  that  in  the  character  with  which 
every  human  being  comes  into  this  world  there  is 
not  that  element  of  hohness  without  which  no 
man  can  see  the  Lord. 

Is  it  not,  then,  clear  that  this  evil  nature  must 


196  A    CONSCIOUS    CHANGE. 

be  made  good,  this  polluted  soul  must  be  cleansed, 
these  carnal  and  corrupt  desires  must  be  made 
holy,  before  heaven  and  God's  presence  can  be 
entered  with  joy?  Could  an  impenitent  sinner, 
an  unbeliever  in  Christ,  be  happy  with  angels  and 
holy  beings  for  his  only  companions  ?  Is  it  not 
clear  that  if  he  had  not  been  born  at  all  he  could 
not  have  beheld  the  hght  of  the  sun,  nor  any  of 
the  objects  of  beauty  and  glory  which  it  reveals 
in  the  natural  world?  And  is  it  not  equally  clear 
that  unless  he  is  "born  again"  he  will  never 
discern  the  infinitely  higher  and  more  glorious 
objects  which  are  to  be  revealed  in  the  spiritual 
world  ? 

Havmg  shown  you  the  reasonableness  of  such 
a  transformation  of  our  nature  as  regeneration  or 
the  new  birth  imphes,  it  need  scarcely  be  said 
that  the  occurrence  of  it  must  be  a  subject  of  dis- 
tinct consciousness.  I  do  not  say  the  exact  time 
of  its  occurrence,  or  the  attending  circumstances y 
but  the  fact.  He  who  is  born  again  knows  it. 
In  some  cases  the  circumstances  are  indelibly  im- 
pressed. It  is  impossible  that  the  jailer  at 
Phihppi  should  not  have  been  conscious  of  a  won- 
derful revolution  in  his  feelings  and  sympathies 


A    CONSCIOUS    CHANGE.  197 

during  the  eventful  night  in  which  his  prisoners 
became  preachers  of  righteousness  and  instruments 
of  salvatioji  to  him  and  his  household.  Lydia 
could  have  no  doubt  that  she  was  governed  by 
new  views  of  truth  and  duty  after  her  "heart 
was  opened  to  attend  to  the  things  which  werer 
spoken  of  Paul." 

There  may  be  cant  phrases  in  vogue,  expressive 
of  this  transformation,  which  are  as  little  to  my 
taste  as  they  can  be  to  your's ;  and  doubtless 
there  are  cases  in  which  people  are  deceived  and 
deceive  others  (not  intending  it,  perhaps)  in 
supposing  themselves  to  have  been  the  subjects 
of  regenerating  grace,  when  they  are  really  and 
truly  in  their  natural  state  of  alienation  from 
God  and  all  holy  beings.  But  that  such  a  change 
does  take  place  when  the  soul  is  brought  into 
reconcihation  with  God  by  the  power  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  and  in  consequence  of  the  atonement  for 
its  sins  by  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  is  an  incontro- 
vertible fact ;  and  the  party  is  as  conscious  of  it 
as  he  is  of  waking  out  of  sleep  or  of  passing  out 
of  a  dark  room  into  the  hght  of  noonday.  There 
is  no  plainer  declaration  in  Holy  Scripture  than 
the  words  of  Christ  himself: — "Verily,  verily,  I 

17* 


198  A   CONSCIOUS   CHANGE. 

say  unto  you.  Except  a  man  be  born  again,  be 
cannot  see  the  kingdom  of  God." 

This  change  is  called  conversion  in  the  same 
sense  in  wliich  we  say  that  a  person  who  em- 
braces an  opinion  which  he  has  before  opposed  is 
converted  to  that  opinion;  or  that  the  drunkard 
who  forsakes  his  cups  is  converted  into  a  sober 
man;  and  that  the  worldHng  who  renounces 
the  world  and  accepts  the  salvation  of  the 
gospel  is  converted  to  Christ  and  becomes  one 
of  his  disciples. 

That  the  evidence  of  this  moral  transformation 
is  in  all  cases  equally  satisfactory,  even  to  one's 
self,  is  not  affirmed.  Faith — true  and  energetic 
faith — may  co-exist  with  a  very  indistinct  and 
limited  conception  of  divine  truth. 

"Among  my  earliest  inqukers"  (says  a  pastor) 
"was  a  married  lady,  of  German  origin,  whose 
views  of  divine  truth  were  very  imperfect  and 
vague.  She  seemed  to  feel  that  she  was  a  sinner, 
and  that  the  gospel  promised  salvation  to  all  who 
behoved  in  Christ ;  but  of  the  extent  and  obhga- 
tion  of  the  divine  law,  or  of  the  depth  and  guilt 
of  her  depravity,  or  of  the  necessity  and  value  of 
the  death  of  Christ,  she  had  no  definite  opinions. 


INDEFINITE    VIEWS.  199 

'  I  am  a  lost  sinner/  she  said,  ^  and  wish  to  be  a 
Christian.  I  have  never  Hved  as  I  ought ;  and  I 
want  to  begin  now/  were  the  sum  and  substance 
of  her  convictions  of  native  enmity  to  God  and 
condemnation  by  his  holy  law.  I  explained  to 
her,  as  I  thought,  with  great  simphcity  and  ful- 
ness, the  Scripture  doctrine  of  man's  native 
depravity  and  helplessness,  of  the  Saviour's  in- 
carnation and  death  to  save  a  lost  race,  and  of  the 
need  of  the  Spirit's  agency  to  renew  and  sanctify 
the  heart.  In  several  successive  intervicAvs  I 
presented  these  truths  in  various  forms  and  re- 
lations and  thought  she  attained  some  distinct 
apprehension  of  them;  but  at  our  next  meetmg 
the  effect  seemed  wholly  lost,  and  her  views  of 
truth  were  as  dim  and  shadowy  as  ever. 

"  She  cherished  at  length  a  hope  that  she  was  a 
Christian,  but  could  refer  to  no  particular  time 
when  conscious  of  a  change  of  heart  and  feeling. 
No  passage  of  Scripture  had  brought  comfort. 
No  wrestling  prayer  had  given  peace.  No  known 
duty  performed,  or  cross  taken  up,  had  reheved 
her  burdened  spirit.  She  thought  she  loved  the 
Saviour,  and  found  j^leasure  in  prayer,  and  had 
no  other  wish  than  to  Hve  wholly  for  God ;  and 


200  INDEFINITE    VIEWS. 

these   were   about   all   the   evidences   she   could 
furnish  of  true  conversion. 

"  I  was  greatly  perplexed.  I  could  not  be 
satisfied  with  her  inadequate  views  of  truth.  I 
was  doubtful  of  the  reality  of  a  conversion  in 
which  the  successive  steps  were  invisible.  I 
feared  that  her  religious  impressions  were  super- 
ficial and  transitory,  and  that  she  would  soon  fall 
back  into  a  worldly  life.  I  accordingly  post- 
poned her  application  for  admission  to  church 
ordinances,  and  urged  her  to  study  the  Bible 
with  prayer  and  try  to  understand  distinctly  its 
most  important  truths.  But  delay  produced  no 
change.  Her  opinions  were  still  shadowy,  while 
her  walk  was  humble  and  consistent. 

"  She  was  finally  received  among  the  professed 
disciples  of  Christ.  I  watched  her  course  for 
many  months  with  anxiety.  I  feared  for  her 
stability.  But  year  after  year  rolled  by,  and  she 
continued  to  lead  an  humble  and  consistent  life. 
Her  example  was  almost  blameless  in  word  and 
deportment.  She  was  a  woman  of  prayer,  and 
loved  the  Bible.  She  adorned  the  profession  she 
had  made,  and  no  one  in  the  world  ventured  to 
doubt  her  piety.     But  her  views  of  the  doctrines 


INDEFINITE    VIEWS.  201 

of  the  Bible  never  attained  clearness  or  coherence, 
and  she  never  advanced  much  beyond  her  first 
lesson, — that  she  was  a  great  sinner,  and  Christ  a 
perfect  Saviour.  I  learned  the  lesson  that  the 
heart  is  often  better  than  the  head,  and  faith  may 
flourish  when  knowledge  is  imperfect." 

Such  cases  of  vagueness  and  uncertainty  in 
religious  convictions  are  exceptions  to  ordinary 
experience  and  observation.  The  laws  which 
govern  our  minds  on  other  subjects  control  them 
here. 

The  records  of  eminent  statesmen,  learned  phi- 
losophers and  brave  generals  do  not  furnish  more 
specific  evidence  of  their  principles  and  acts  than 
the  records  of  Christian  experience  supply  of  the 
principles  and  acts  which  distinguish  the  disciples 
of  Christ  from  others.  And  we  may  as  reasonably 
question  whether  Edmund  Burke  was  a  statesman, 
Sir  Isaac  Newton  a  philosopher,  or  George  Wash- 
ington a  general,  as  whether  WiUiam  Wilberforce, 
John  Wesley  and  Edward  Payson  were  the  dis- 
ciples and  followers  of  Christ  in  such  a  sense  as  to 
distinguish  them  from  the  great  majority  of  man- 
kind. 

Not  only  is  this   distinction  obvious  where  it 


202  REV.  L- 


really  exists,  but  in  many  instances  (perhaps  in 
most)  the  process  that  leads  to  it  is  a  matter  of 
personal  consciousness  as  much  as  the  loss  or 
recovery  of  bodily  health.  It  may  be  that  in 
seasons  of  excitement  persons  of  a  peculiar  tem- 
perament will  suppose  themselves  to  be  the 
subjects  of  the  regenerating  power  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  when  in  truth  they  are  deluded  by  the 
vain  fancies  of  a  fervid  imagination.  But  in  most 
instances  the  commencement  of  a  rehgious  life, 
which  we  call  the  new  birth,  and  all  the  stages 
of  after-growth,  are  as  real  to  the  experience 
of  the  individual  as  the  growth  of  the  body 
from  helpless  infancy  to  vigorous  manhood. 

You    remember    Rev.  L ,   of   Paris, 

whom 'I  introduced  to  you  last  winter.  You  were 
struck,  as  everybody  is,  with  his  great  frankness 
and  simplicity  of  manner.  With  all  the  vivacity 
which  characterizes  his  nation,  you  could  not  fail 
to'  observe  the  deep  hold  which  the  love  and 
service  of  Christ  had  taken  upon  his  energies 
and  affections.  Let  me  tell  you  something  of  his 
history,  by  way  of  illustrating  what  I  have  said 
of  the  conscious  reality  of  the  change  we  are  con- 
sidering.    It  is  the  more   impressive  because  of 


REV.  L- 


203 


the  volatility  and  fickleness  whicn  are  supposed  to 
belong  to  the  disposition  of  the  French  people. 

He  was  educated  a  Eoman  Catholic.  His 
father  became  a  soldier,  and  entered  the  army  of 
Napoleon  I.  at  the  age  of  fourteen.     He  was  very 

fond   of   his    children,  and   especially  of  L . 

Though  enjoying  the  advantages  of  a  good  school, 
he  was  much  averse  to  study.  A  more  active  hfe 
suited  him  better;  and,  after  trying  several  em- 
ployments, he  finally  settled  upon  that  of  a  brass- 
founder.  He  entered  an  estabhshment  for  the 
purpose  of  learning  the  business,  and  soon  showed 
remarkable  expertness  :  so  that,  though  he  entered 
with  the  understanding  that  he  was  to  receive  no 
remuneration  for  his  services  until  he  became 
skilful  in  his  work,  he  soon  earned  three  or  four 
dollars  a  day;  and  when  he  had  accumulated  a 
sufficient  sum  he  resolved  to  expend  it  in 
travelling  over  the  kingdom  and  visiting  similar 
estabhshments.  When  he  apphed  for  admittance 
to  workshops,  they  often  laughed  at  his  dimi- 
nutive size  and  boyish  countenance.  Some- 
times he  would  propose  to  them  to  let  him 
try  his  hand  at  some  work ;  when  he  soon  con- 
vinced them  of  liis  superior  skill.     Some  of  his 


204  REV.  L- 


work  was  sent  to  a  distant  town,  containing  a 
population  of  ten  thousand,  and,  coming  under  the 
notice  of  some  capitalists,  they  resolved  upon 
erecting  a  foundry,  and  immediately  inquired 
him  out  and  invited  him  to  an  interview.  When 
they  saw  him,  they  dechned  the  negotiation,  at 
least  for  the  present,  till  after  the  return  of  a 
partner  who  was  abroad.  He  told  them  he 
should  leave  in  the  morning  and  must  know 
before  then,  or  he  should  make  other  arrange- 
ments. They  concluded  to  go  on,  admitted  him 
to  a  share  in  the  concern,  and  gave  him  charge 
of  the  whole  enterprise.  He  went  forward  with 
great  success.  His  youth,  coupled  with  so  much 
skill  and  efficiency,  excited  general  notice.  He 
employed  all  his  leisure  moments  in  reading  Vol- 
taire, Diderot  and  other  authors  of  the  infidel  school. 
He  went  to  no  balls,  theatres  or  pleasure-parties. 
He  mingled  not  at  all  in  society,  read  much 
while  others  slept,  and,  strange  to  say,  his  great 
and  constant  aim  was  to  make  himself  believe 
that  there  is  no  God  and  no  future  state.  He 
w^as  uneasy,  and  attributed  his  uneasiness  to  im- 
pressions which  were  entirely  superstitious,  as  he 


REV.  L .  205 

supposed ;  and,  if  they  were  dispelled,  he  believed 
he  should  be  happy. 

On  his  way  home  in  the  evening,  he  was  accus- 
tomed to  pass  a  lowly  house,  where  he  once  heard 
singing.  Being  fond  of  music,  he  stopped  and 
listened.  The  door  was  open,  and  he  went  in. 
Perhaps  fifteen  persons  were  present.  The 
preacher  was  a  Missionary  of  an  Evangelical 
Society,  and  had  just  commenced  his  labours  in 
that   place.     His    subject    was    brotherly   love. 

L heard  him,  and  despised  what  he  said, — 

considering  it  all  arrant  hypocrisy.  He  hastened 
away,  went  home,  and  betook  himself  to  his 
favourite  authors,  Diderot  and  Voltaire,  again. 

Not  long  after,  he  heard  singing  repeated  at  the 
same  place  and  went  in  again.  He  thought  the 
preacher  spoke  the  language  very  well  and  was 
proper  in  his  deportment;  but  he  found  that 
going  there  increased  his  uneasiness.  Neverthe- 
less, when  he  went  by  the  place  and  saw  it  open, 
he  was  always  inclined  to  go  in, — though  he 
rushed  out  as  soon  as  the  service  was  ended. 

By-and-by,  as  he  was  sitting  in  this  place,  when, 
without  any  thing  from  the  minister,  or  any  other 
extraiacous  influence  to  suggest  it,  the  idea  struck 

18 


206  REV.  L- 


him  like  a  flash  of  lightning,  "  Christianit}^  MAi^ 
BE  TRUE  ;  and,  if  it  is,  I  am  a  lost  man."  All  the 
fortresses  of  his  infidelity  disappeared  like  the 
dew  of  a  summer  morning.  He  was  conscious  of 
great  agitation,  and  was  sure  it  would  be  ob- 
served. He  sat  a  while.  The  preacher  then,  as 
on  former  occasions,  urged  them  to  read  the  Bible 
and  seek  light  and  wisdom  from  God  by  earnest 
prayer.  The  preachers  wife  w^as  there,  and  sat 
near  L ;  and  the  moment  the  usual  benedic- 
tion was  pronounced,  she  laid  her  hand  on  his 
arm,  and  said, — 

"You  seem  to  have  been  interested  in  the 
preaching  of  the  gospel.  We  have  noticed  you 
as  an  attentive  listener ;  and,  if  you  would  like  to 
speak  with  the  preacher,  he  will  be  glad  to  see 
you," — at  the  same  time  giving  him  his  address. 

"  I  did  not  want  to  speak  to  anybody.  (We 
now  use  his  own  words.)  I  wanted  to  be  alone. 
I  hastened  home  in  a-  state  bordering  upon  de- 
spair. I  felt  that  the  Christian  doctrine  is  true, 
and  that  my  unbelief  was  a  grievous  sin.  I 
could  see  no  w^ay  of  escape.  I  thought  how  many 
books  I  had  read,  and  yet  I  had  never  read  a 
word  of  the  Bible,  which  the  minister  urged  the 


REV.  L .  207 

people  so  earnestly  to  read.  So  I  determined  to 
buy  one.  I  went  to  the  obscure  place  where 
Bibles  w^ere  sold,  and,  with  an  assumed  careless 
air,  asked  for  a  copy.  When  this  was  bought,  I 
said.  Now  I  want  to  buy  a  New  Testament, — not 
knowing  that  it  was  part  of  the  volume  I  had  just 
purchased.  The  man,  supposing  I  wanted  it  for 
a  pocket-companion  in  addition  to  the  Bible,  sold 
me  one.  I  went  home  with  them,  locked  myself  in 
my  room,  lay  down  on  the  bed,  took  my  new  book 
and  began  at  the  beginning  to  read.  After  reading 
rapidly  the  first  five  or  six  chapters  of  Genesis,  I 
thought  it  was  supremely  absurd,  and  felt  so 
chagrined  and  imposed  upon  that  I  threw  the  book 
violently  across  the  room,  and  composed  myself 
to  sleep.  When  the  servant  saw  the  book  the 
next  morning  and  took  it  up,  I  told  her  to  lay  it 
away  on  the  shelf  out  of  my  sight. 

"  For  weeks  I  was  the  most  wretched  creature 
in  the  wide  world.  I  used  to  speak  of  myself 
freely  as  a  lost  man !  a  lost  man !  and  people 
would  confer  with  each  other  aside  about  me, 
saying,— 

" '  Do  you  remember  that  young  man  who  came 
here  and  set  up  the  foundry  at  ?     Poor 


208  REV.  L- 


fellow !  he  has  gone  mad.  I  thought  it  would  be 
so.  Always  readmg;  never  gomg  to  places  of 
amusement.  Pity  that  such  a  bright  young  feUow 
should  destroy  himself.'' 

"  I  could  not  attend  to  any  thing.  The  convic- 
tion that  the  Christian  doctrine  is  true,  and  that 
it  condemned  me,  haunted  me  wherever  I  went 
and  whatever  I  did.  At  last  I  j-esolved  to  go  and 
see  that  man — the  minister — and  perhaps  he  would 
teU  me  what  1  had  better  do.  I  went.  He 
opened  the  gospel  to  -  me ;  and  I  received  it,  and 
was  happy. 

"  I  soon  stuffed  my  pockets  with  religious 
tracts  and  Testaments,  and  gave  them  to  those 
I  met.  When  such  as  had  previously  known  me 
asked  what  had  wrought  so  great  a  change  in  my 
feelings  and  habits,  I  gave  them  a  Testament  or 
a  tract,  saying,  '  Read  that,  and  you  will  know.' 
Some,  who  saw  me  so  happy  and  had  lately  seen 
me  so  much  cast  down,  said,  '  Poor  fellow; !  it  is 
often  so  with  people  that  lose  their  wits:  they 
are  first  at  one  extreme  and  then  at  the  other.' 

"I  now  made  up  my  mind  to  dissolve  my  busi- 
ness connections.  I  told  my  partners  that  I 
would  stay  my  year  out  if  they  wished ;   but  it 


REV.  L .  209 

would  not  be  for  their  advantage  or  mine,  as  my 
mind  was  absorbed  by  another  and  a  greater  object. 
We  very  pleasantly  separated.  The  minister 
became  my  friend ;  but  my  father  disowned  me. 
He  considered  that  the  change  of  my  religion  was 
highly  discreditable  to  the  family.  I  was  anxious 
to  return  to  Paris,  but  lacked  the  means.  My  father 
soon  after  saw  a  letter  I  had  written,  which  induced 
him  to  relent,  and  to  receive  me  with  great  cor- 
diality, and,  at  last,  he  too  became  a  follower  of 
Christ.  In  process  of  time  the  thought  crossed 
my  mind  that  I  might,  some  time,  be  a  missionary; 
but  it  seemed  so  absurd  that  I  dismissed  it  at 
once.  The  minister  talked  with  me  about  my 
plan  of  life  several  times,  and  suggested  the 
preaching  of  the  gospel;  and  I  asked  him  if  he 
seriously  thought  such  a  thing  possible.  It  was 
finally  resolved  upon.  I  commenced  study.  The 
Greek  came  very  hard  to  me ;  but  I  persevered, 
and  in  two  years  went  through  the  course  of  study 
usually  appropriated  to  eight.  For  those  two 
years  I  studied,  on  an  average,  twenty  hours  in 
e\'ery  twenty-four,  and  finally  became  incapable 
of  sleep.  My  nervous  system  was  excited  to 
such  a  degree  that  I  could  see  visions  at  noonday 

0  18^f 


210  REV.  L- 


with  my  eyes  wide  open.  At  the  close  of  my 
examination,  the  teacher  said  I  had  accomphshed 
my  object,  but  I  had  sacrificed  my  life.  .  Soon  after, 
I  left  Paris  and  went  t6  the  South  of  France — 
(as  my  friends  supposed)  to  die.  But  the  change 
of  air  and  scene  and  new  occupations  revived  me, 
and  I  soon  returned  with  confirmed  health.  The 
minister,  whose  little  meeting  first  drew  me 
under  the  sound  of  the  gospel,  is  now  a  missionary 

in  C .     I  have  just  returned  from  a  visit  to 

him ;  for  I  was  not  willing  to  stay  a  day  on  the 
same  continent  without  visiting  him." 

Can  any  one  doubt  that  this  narrative  describes 
an  actual,  sensible  change  in  moral  feelings  and 
aspirations  ? 

Suppose  you  should  hear  a  soldier's  account  of 
a  skirmish  in  which  he  was  wounded  in  the  knee. 
He  describes  the  march ;  the  position  of  the  enemy; 
the  preparations  for  the  fight;  the  assault;  his 
fall ;  the  nature  of  the  wound ;  the  removal  from 
the  field ;  the  hospital  to  which  he  was  carried ; 
the  treatment  received ;  and  his  recovery,  though 
with  an  incurable  stiifness  of  the  joint,  which  is 
plain  enough  when  he  attempts  to  walk :  you 
would  have  no  more  doubt  of  the  truth  of  his 


^    '  A    STRUGGLE.  211 

narrative  than  if  you  had  been  by  his  side  in  the 
battle.  And  why  is  less  credit  due  to  the  history 
of  a  change  in  one's  views  and  principles,  so  great 
and  radical  as  to  be  but  feebly  represented  by 
the  transition  from  darkness  to  light,  or  even  from 
death  to  life, — and  that,  too,  oftentimes  connected 
with  a  conflict  of  passions  and  emotions  so  sharp 
and  protracted  as  almost  to  crush  the  spirit  of  a 
strong  man  ? 

A  very  intimate  friend  of  mine — a  lawyer  by 
profession  and  a  man  of  irreproachable  morals — was 
the  subject  of  such  a  fearful  struggle.  He  was 
so  exemplary  in  his  habits  and  so  punctilious  in 
his  observance  of  the  outward  duties  of  religion 
that  most  of  his  acquaintances  (professional  as 
well  as  personal)  supposed  him  to  be  an  avowed 
disciple  of  Christ.  During  a  season  of  unusual 
interest  in  the  subject  of  religion,  two  or  three  of 
his  nearest  friends  were  particularly  moved  in  his 
behalf.  And  though  his  high  intellectual  endow- 
ments, his  stern  integrity  and  his  social  standing 
were  all  arrayed  in  opposition  to  his  humbling 
himself  and  becoming  as  a  little  child,  the  Spirit 
of  God  overcame  them  all ;  and  a  fiercer  tumult 
of  feeling  it  has  never  been  my  lot  to   witness 


212  A   VICTORY. 

than  that  of  which  the  bosom  of  my  dear  friend 
was  the  theatre  for  some  two  or  three  weeks. 
Familiar  as  he  was  from  childhood  with  the  doc- 
trines of  revelation,  and  accustomed  as  he  was  to 
the  discharge  of  the  outAvard  duties  of  a  religious 
life, — including  those  of  the  most  private  devo- 
tional nature, — he  was,  nevertheless,  a  stranger  to 
the  powder  and  malignity  of  "the  strong  man 
armed"  that  possessed  the  castle  of  his  heart, 
until  the  approach  of  "a  stronger  than  he"  to 
dislodge  him;  and  this  called  them  into  terrific 
exercise.  Wh^n  the  hour  of  submission  came 
and  my  friend  found  peace  and  joy  in  believing, 
the  reahty  of  the  transformation  was  as  distinctly 
marked  as  it  would  be  in  an  Ethiopian  who  should 
change  liis  skin,  or  in  a  leopard  who  should  shed 
his  spots.  Heat  once  made  a  public  profession- of 
his  faith,  relinquished  the  practice  of  law,  and 
has  been  for  many  years  an  able  and  successful 
minister  of  the  New  Testament. 

Oftentimes,  however,  the  mysterious  process  is 
accomplished  with  little,  if  any,  external  emotion. 
It  is  as  silent  and  gradual  as  that  of  leaven  in  the 
measure  of  meal ;  and  there  are  instances  in  which 
the  nature  to  be  changed  is  so  gentle  and  childhke 


A   REPRESENTATIVE    CASE.  213 

that  the  putting  off  of  the  old  man  and  the  putting 
on  of  the  new  is  like  the  turn  of  the  tide  or  the 
emerge-nce  of  the  dawn, — definite,  and  in  point  of 
fact  certain,  but  imperceptible  in  point  of  time. 
In  other  cases  each  step  in  the  process  is  as  dis- 
tinctly taken,  and  each  stage  as  consciously  passed, 
as  were  the  steps  and  stages,  of  the  man  Moses 
when  he  ascended  Sinai  to  commune  with  Jeho- 
vah. One  such  case  occurs  to  my  mind,  which 
may  stand  as  a  representative  of  thousands. 

Mr.  P was  a  native  of  Connecticut,  where 

he  enjoyed  the  advantages  of  judicious  home  and 
school  culture.  He  graduated  at  Yale  College ; 
studied  law ;  married  and  settled  in  Western  New 
York.  Being  a  shrewd  business  man,  he  soon 
acquired  wealth ;  and,  finding  the  field  of  his 
operations  too  narrow  for  his  ambition,  he  deter- 
mined to  dispose  of  his  large  real  estate  and  take 
up  his  residence  and  pursue  his  profession  in  the 
city  of  New  York.  While  this  was  in  contempla- 
tion, a  deep  religious  excitement  pervaded  the 
neighbourhood.  He  purposely  avoided  subjecting 
himself  to  its  influence ;  and,  with  the  hope  of 
finding  occupation  for  the  evening  at  a  pubhc 
lecture  or  some  political  gathering,  he  sallied  out, 


214  A   REPRESENTATIVE    CASE. 

and,  meeting  with  a  friend,  inquired  if  there  were 
any  thing  of  interest  going  on. 

"  Why,"  said  his  friend,  "  I  do  not  know  that 
there  is  any  thing  that  would  interest  you.  Re- 
ligion seems  to  be  at  the  top  just  now.  There  is 
a  prayer-meeting  for  members  of  the  church  at 
Hall ;  and  a  prayer-meeting  for  young  con- 
verts in  Dr. 's  lecture-room;  and  a  meeting 

for  inquirers  at  Mr. 's  house  in  *   *    *    *    * 

Street ;  but  I  guess  there  is  nothing  going  on  that 
would  be  likely  to  suit  yoiC 

The  thought  flashed  on  Mr.  P 's  mind,  "  No 

meeting  for  me  !  I  am  neither  an  inquirer,  nor  a 
convert,  nor  a  professor." 

He  was  uneasy,  and  could  not  conceal  it.  A 
tract  was  given  to  him,  and  he  read  it,  but  found 
nothing  to  allay  his  anxiety  or  shed  light  on  his 
path, — though  it  was  of  some  service  in  directing 
his  thoughts.  He  prayed,  read  the  Bible  and 
attended  several  times  upon  the  unusual  religious 
services  which  were  appointed;  but  all  to  no 
purpose.  Business  now  lost  its  attractions.  The 
plan  of  removing  to  the  city  was  abandoned,  and 
the  world  suddenly  became  a  blank  to  him.  He 
spent  whole  days  alone  in  his  of&ce,  taking  the 


A    REPRESENTATIVE    CASE.  215 

key  inside  and  answering  no  knocks.     Finally  he 
resolved  to  ipiit  an  end  to  such  indecision. 

One  evening  he  went  into  his  office,  Hghted  an 
extra-sized  spermaceti  candle  and  laid  another 
one  on  the  table  by  his  side,  took  his  Bible  and 
determined  that  he  would  never  leave  that  s])oi 
till  he  had  fixed  his  mind  on  one  side  or  the  other 
and  cleared  up  all  his  doubts.  He  began  to  readj 
but  it  soon  became  an  iii^some  task.  He  leaned 
back  in  his  chair  and  began  to  reason  thus  with 
himself: — "Why,  this  is  all  folly.  I  am  requked 
to  love  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  This  is  merely  a 
matter  oi feeling.  Well,  to  feel,  I  must  see  a  person 
or  know  something  of  him ;  but  I  have  no  idea  of 
Christ  as  an  object  of  pecuhar  affection  or  interest. 
On  what  ground  am  I  required  to  give  him  my 
heart?  Has  he  done  anything  ^oy  me?  He  is 
said  to  have  saved  me ;  but  from  what  ?  What 
was  my  condition,  that  rendered  his  interposition 
necessary  ?  Looking  back  upon  my  life,  I  find  I 
have  done — what  ?  Why,  absolutely  nothing,  but 
take  care  of  myself  and  seek  my  own  gratifica- 
tion. I  have  not  had  in  view  the  glory  of  God — 
my  Creator  and  preserver  and  benefactor — in  a 
single  act.     I  have  not  sought  the  welfare  of  my 


216  A   REPRESENTATIVE    CASE. 

fellow-creatures.  I  have  been  absorbed  with  self. 
Well,  is  not  all  this  contrary  to  the  will  of  God  ? 
Can  there  be  fellowship  between  such  a  God  as 
has  taken  care  of  me  all  my  Hfe  long,  and  even 
sent  his  Son  to  die  for  me,  and  such  a  selfish 
creature  as  I  am  ?" 

He  pondered  this  view  of  himself  till  he  had 
such  an  idea  of  the  contrast  between  God's  law 
and  his  own  character  that  he  says  "  the  thought 
of  going  into  the  divine  presence  was  hke  being 
pushed  up  to  the  mouth  of  a  seven-times-heated 
furnace.     It  was  intolerable  !" 

"And  did  Christ  throw  himself  into  such  a 
deadly  breach  for  me  ?"  he  asked.  "  Did  he  bear 
the  stroke  of  Almighty  vengeance  and  die  that  a 
sinner  such  as  I  am  might  live  ?  Why,  this  is 
literally 

'  Love  beyond  degree.' 

Were  my  dearest  earthly  friend  to  do  such  a 
thing  for  me,  I  could  not  find  words  to  express  my 
admiration  and  gratitude ;  but  there  is  every 
thing  in  my  character  to  make  it  odious  in  the 
sight  of  every  holy  being.  So  true  is  it  that 
'  while  we  were  yet  enemies,  Christ  died  for  us  !'  " 
He  soon  found  himself  admiring  the  hoUness 


A    REPRESENTATIVE    CASE.  217 

and  perfection  of  the  law,  government  and  charac- 
ter of  God,  while  he  loathed  and  abhorred  him- 
self as  a  sinner  and  joyfully  accepted  Christ  as 
the  R'ocK  of  his  salvation.  Late  in  the  night  he 
went  to  bed,  resolved,  by  God's  grace,  to  begin  a 
life  of  commmiion  with  Him.  As  soon  as  day 
dawned,  he  addressed  himself  to  new  duties, 
under  the  influence  of  new  motives.  A  course  of 
active  piety  succeeded.  He  abandoned  secular 
business  and  betook  himself  at  once  to  efforts  for 
the  salvation  of  souls,  and  has  been  from  that 
day,  and  still  is,  an  earnest  labourer  in  the  Lord's 
vineyard. 

I  apprehend  that  the  marks  of  a  radical,  moral 
change  in  this  man's  nature  were  as  distinct  as 
those  which  attended  the  restoration  of  the  lame 
man  at  the  gate  of  the  temple,  who  had  been  lame 
from  his  mother's  womb,  but  who  by  the  name  of 
Jesus  of  Nazareth  received  such  strength  in  his 
"feet  and  ankle-bones"  that  he  entered  with  the 
apostles — who  had  been  the  instruments  of  his 
cure — into  the  temple,  "  walking  and  leaping  and 
praising  God." 

Supposing  the  process  which  we  have  been 
analyzing  works  a  real,  substantial  change  in  the 

19 


218  SOUND    REASONING. 

character  and  dispositions  of  a  human  being, 
and  his  relations  to  God,  so  essential  that 
without  it  there  can  be  no  admission  into  the 
kingdom  of  heaven,  I  persuade  myself  that  you 
are  ready  to  inquire  what  you  can  do  towards  its 
accomplishment  in  your  own  heart.  I  think  I 
hear  you  say,  If  such  a  change  is  the  starting- 
point  in  a  life  of  devotion  to  God,  I  can  be  neither 
safe  nor  happy  until  it  occurs ;  and  surely  it  will 
be  a  source  of  great  satisfaction  to  me  to  look 
back  upon  an  active  life  spent  in  his  service,  rather 
than  upon  a  few  months,  or  even  years,  for  which 
I  could  find  no  other  employment. 

This  is  sound  reasoning.  When  spending  the 
Lord's  day  in  Charleston,  S.C.,  some  years  since, 
I  was  mis-informed  as  to  the  time  of  public 
worship,  and,  having  a  half-hour  unexpectedly 
on  my  hands,  I  strolled  through  the  graveyard 
'adjoining  one  of  the  oldest  churches  in  that  city. 
My  eye  fell  upon  a  moss-covered  grave-stone,  on 
which  was  inscribed  the  name  of  a  person  who 
died  at  the  age  of  eighty.*  The  inscription  stated 
that   sixty-eight   years    she    was    an    exemplary 

*  I  am  not  confident  of  the  exact  age  ;  but  it  was  near  this,  and 
the  proportions  not  less. 


A    QUESTION.  219 

member  of  that  chm^ch,  showing  that  she  joined 
it  at  the  early  age  of  twelve.  Who  would  wish 
the  number  set  against  such  a  record  of  his  life  to 
be  exchanged  for  tw^o,  or  twelve,  or  twenty-two, 
or  fifty-two,  or  even  sixty-seven,  years  ? 

It  is  an  interesting  question,  which  some  of  you 
have  more  than  once  asked.  Whether  the  time  of 
such  a  revolution  in  the  character  is  not  entkely 
beyond  our  own  control?  This  may  indkectly 
involve  a  subject  of  speculative  theology,  wliich  I 
am  neither  competent  nor  inclined  to  discuss  ;  for, 
as  you  know,  we  have  never  allowed  such  ques- 
tions a  place  in  our  studies.  But  experience  and 
observation  may  aid  us  in  determining,  in  part,  to 
what  extent  this  important  crisis  may  be  retarded 
or  hastened  by  human  agency. 

If  we  look  back  upon  life,  we  can  discover 
many  incidents  which,  though  trivial  in  them- 
selves, have  given  an  important  direction  to  our 
pursuits  or  essentially  affected  our  character,  which 
were  apparently  within  our  control.  When  I  was 
a  little  boy,  living  in  a  country  town,  I  was  sent 
with  a  light,  covered  pail  to  a  grocery  for  some 
brown  sugar.  It  was  not  too  heavy  for  me  to  carry. 
I  had  more  than  once  done  the  same  errand  alone. 


220  A    CASE. 

On  my  way  home,  I  met  another  boy,  about  my 
age,  with  whom  I  had  been  forbidden  to  phiy 
because  he  was  believed  to  be  very  vicious ;  and 
he  offered  to  take  hold  of  one  side  of  the  pail  and 
help  me  to  carry  it.  I  was  perfectly  conscious  of 
pleasure  at  the  thought  of  having  any  plausible 
excuse  for  being  in  his  company. 

I  could  have  said,  "  No  !  I  thank  you  :  it  is  not 
too  heavy  for  me  to  carry."  But  I  accepted  his 
offer.  He  turned  about  and  went  with  me.  That 
walk  of  fifteen  minutes  was  one  of  the  most  im- 
portant events  of  my  life.  Wrong  impressions 
were  made  upon  my  mind  which  will  never,  never 
be  effaced  while  I  Hve.  That  one  act  of  disobedi- 
ence to  the  known  will  of  my  parents  changed  the 
current  of  my  moral  feehngs,  just  as  a  pebble  or 
a  twig  turns  the  httle  bubbling  brook  and  may  de- 
termine its  course  when  swollen  to  a  mighty  river. 
It  removed,  for  the  time,  one  of  the  barriers  which 
parental  love  would  provide  for  my  safety.  And 
but  for  the  interposition  of  a  kind  Providence 
might  have  proved  the  turning-point  in  my  history. 
It  would  not  be  difficult  to  fill  a  volume  with  illus- 
trations of  the  principle  that,  in  the  appointments 
of  divine  Providence,  men  choose  for  themselves 


MRS.  JUDSON.  221 

what  to  do  and  what  not  to  do,  and  upon  that 
choice  are  suspended  results  of  stupendous  interest. 

You  know  how  it  is  in  the  ordinary  affairs  of 
life.  You  are  about  to  take  a  journey.  There* 
are  various  routes  and  various  times  of  setting 
out.  You  ascertain  and  compare  them,  and 
finally  decide  to  go  by  rail  at  ten  o'clock.  A 
carriage  is  ordered  in  season,  but  does  not  come, 
and  you  are  disappointed.  The  train  you  intended 
to  take  meets  with  a  terrible  disaster, — so  terrible 
and  general  as  to  make  it  scarcely  possible  that 
you  could  have  escaped.  Why  were  you  not 
there  ?  The  little  child  of  the  owner  and  driver 
of  the  carriage  swalloAved  a  bean  with  which  he 
was  playing,  and  was  in  danger  of  being  strangled. 
This  absorbed  the  father's  attention,  and  he  forgot 
bis  engagement.  All  parties  in  this  case  acted 
with  perfect  freedom ;  and  yet  the  act  of  each  had 
an  essential  bearing  on  the  conduct  and  interests 
of  others. 

You  have  read,  I  presume,  the  eventful  history 
of  Mrs.  Ann  H.  Judson,  and  have  admired  the 
fortitude  and  patience  with  which  she  encountered 
the  most  appalling  trials  of  life  among  the  heathen, 
and  the   constancy  with  which   she   maintained 

19* 


222  MRS.  JUDSON. 

her  faith  when  all  hope  seemed  to  be  cut  off. 
The  step  which,  to  all  human  appearance,  decided 
the  question  whether  she  should  be  a  giddy 
votary  of  the  world  or  a  disciple  of  Jesus  of 
Nazareth,  was  taken,  in  a  moment  of  time,  at  a 
party  of  pleasure. 

The  record  of  her  religious  exercises  is  em- 
braced in  several  biographies  5  but  there  is  a  scrap 
of  personal  history  which  is  so  pertinent  to  the 
subject  in  hand,  and  so  unhkely  to  reach  you  from 
any  other  source,  that  I  cannot  refrain  from  giving 
it.  It  shall  be  in  the  very  words  of  the  narrator, 
as  they  were  committed  to  paper  a  few  hours  only 
after  they  were  spoken  : — 

"In  1806  I  was  preceptor  of  the  academy  at 
Bradford,  (Mass.)  I  had  not  such  a  hope  in  the 
genuineness  of  my  own  conversion  that  I  was 
willing  to  enter  the  sacred  ministry,  to  which  I 
had  looked  forward  from  my  boyhood,  but  was 
waiting  for    that   preparation  of  heart  which  is 

from  the  Lord.    I  boarded  in  Mr.  H 's  family. 

He  and  his  wife  and  four  daughters  (one  of  whom, 
Ann,  became  the  wife  of  Dr.  Judson)  were  then 
uninterested  in  the  subject  of  personal  religion. 
Mr.  H maintained  a  form  of  prayer ;  and  we 


MRS.  JUDSON.  223 

were  accustomed  to  lead  the  devotions  of  the 
family  alternately.  The  daughters  and  their 
companions  generally  were  very  gay  and  frivolous, 
— as  were  the  pupils  of  the  academy  and  the 
people  generally. 

"A  social  party  in  the  neighbourhood  brought 
together  a  large  number  of  the  most  influential 
famihes  of  Bradford  and  the  adjoining  town  of 
Haverhill.  It  was  a  very  large  and  gay  assem- 
blage. *  Soon  after  tea,  having  determined  to  take 
a  stand  against  the  prevailing  worldliness  and 
vain  amusements,  I  left  the  company  and  went 
into  another  room.  Soon  others  followed ;  and 
among  them  were  two*  whose  connections  and 
education  gave  them  great  influence.  I  expressed 
my  surprise  and  mortification  that  I  had  been 
there  a  year,  and  had  so  hved  as  to  lead  them  to 
suppose  that  such  a  scene  of  mirth  >and  folly 
could  be  agreeable  to  me.  We  conversed  freely 
upon  the  manners  and  customs,  the  pursuits  and 
amusements,  which  were  allowed  or  forbidden  to 
those  who  have  professed  to  deny  the  world  and 
to  have  forsaken  its  pomps  and  vanities.     We  did 

^  Miss  Ann  Hazeltine,  before  mentioned ;   and  Miss   Harriet 
Atwcod,  afterwards  Mrs.  Newell. 


224  MRS.  JUDSON. 

not  return  to  the  convivial  circle ;  and  the  decided 
stand  taken  that  night  was  never  abandoned. 
A  marked  seriousness  was  observed  in  the  indi- 
viduals concerned,  which  continued  and  extended 
to  other  families.  This  became  a  subject  of 
remark.  The  young  ladies  maintained  their 
ground;  and,  in  the  general  attention  to  religion 
which  followed,  the  two  to  whom  we  have  par- 
ticularly referred  became  the  disciples  of  Christ. 
The  religious  exercises  through  which  they  passed, 
before  and  after  this  period,  are  minutely  stated  in 
their  published  biographies. 

"As  I  led   the   devotions  of  the   family   one 

morning,    while    Miss    H was    under    deep 

religious  impressions,  I  commended  her  to  the 
grace  of  God ;  and  the  next  morning  her  father,  in 
attempting  to  lead  in  the  form  of  prayer  to  which 
he  had  always  been  accustomed,  became  so  con- 
fused that  he  paused,  sat  down  and  wept  profusely. 
This  was  on  Friday.  The  Tuesday  following  found 
him  a  happy  believer  in  the  gospel ;  and  his  wife 
and  four  daughters  soon  after  united  with  him  in 
a  public  profession  of  their  faith. 

"A  Miss  W was  a  pupil  of  the  academy. 

Her  father  was  a  magistrate  and  a  man  of  much 


MISS  w .  225 

influence.  When  they  found  that  their  daughter, 
on  whose  education  they  had  bestowed  great 
expense,  was  inclined  to  a  religious  life,  they 
were  quite  indignant,  and  hoped  she  ^  would  not 
make  a  fool  of  herself.'  She  embraced  religion, 
and  in  about  a  year  afterwards  died  suddenly  in  a 
fit.  Her  parents  after  her  death  were  inexpres- 
sibly grateful  for  the  hope  they  had  that  she  was 
not  unprepared. 

"A  Mr.  F ,  of  Boston,  had  a  daughter  and 

niece  at  the  academy,  who  were  both  interested  in 
the  subject  of  religion.  When  the  term  ended, 
he  expressed  his  desire  that  if  they  should  return 
to  the  academy  I  would  desist  from  any  conver- 
sation with  them  on  religious  subjects.  I  replied 
that  I  had  always  found  free  conversation  with 
my  pupils,  on  their  studies  and  pursuits,  tended  to 
give  me  such  a  knowledge  of  them  as  our  rela- 
tions to  each  other  required  ;  and,  as  their  rehgious 
interests  were  certainly  paramount,  I  could  not 
refrain  from  proper  and  seasonable  reference  to 
them.  '  Then,'  replied  Mr.  F — j— ,  ^  they  come 
here  no  more !' 

"When  the  vacation  expired,  however,  their 
father  found  them  so  steadfastly  intent  upon  return- 


226  FRUITS   OF    DECISION. 

ing  that  lie  consented.  They  both  became  subjects 
of  grace,  and  were  instrumental  in  inducing  their 
father  to  attend  at  an  evangelical  place  of  worship. 

"  Much  anxiety  was  expressed  lest  the  absorb- 
ing interest  excited  by  these  scenes  should  inter- 
fere with  the  proper  duties  of  the  academy,  and 
that  the  trustees,  some  of  whom  were  not  friendly 
to  religious  emotion  of  any  kind,  would  throw 
obstacles  in  the  way  of  further  proceedings  in 
that  direction ;  but-  the  public  examination  was 
more  than  usually  satisfactory,  and  God  was 
pleased  to  convert  one  of  the  Board  of  Trustees, 
from  whom  opposition  was  chiefly  expected ;  and 
none  was  shown.  Soon  after,  the  clergyman  of 
the  place  publicly  deplored  his  past  negligence 
and  unfaithfulness  in  dispensing  the  truth;  and 
thirty  were  added  to  his  church  as  the  fruits  of 
the  religious  attention  then  in  progress.  So  much 
for  a  single  conscientious  stand  taken  resolutely 
against  ^  the  world,  the  flesh  and  the  devil.' " 

In  the  most  trivial  occurrences  of  life  there 
often  lies  concealed  a  chain  of  events  so  intricate 
and  so  extended  that  the  mind  is  lost  in  the 
attempt  to  trace  its  unwinding. 

Indeed,  it  sometimes  startles  one  to  think  with 


INFLUENCES.  227 

what  thoughtlessness  the  ordinary  business  of  life 
is  transacted,  when  every  step  is  taken  in  such 
utter  uncertainty  as  to  its  consequences.  Not 
only  are  the  issues  of  our  present  existence;  oui 
happiness  and  that  of  our  friends;  our  character; 
our  influence;  our  social  engagements  and  our 
success  or  failure  in  business,  dependent  on  these 
single  isolated  acts,  llut  the  complexion  of  an 
endless  future  may  be  taken  from  them.  A 
mistake  made  in  a  moment,  and  with  scarcely  a 
thought,'  may  entail  upon  ourselves  and  upon 
those  connected  with  us  a  series  of  calamities 
from  the  very  thought  of  which  we  turn  with 
dismay. 

Is  it  strange,  then,  that  in  the  matter  of  the 
soul's  salvation  so  much  may  depend  on  a  single 
act?  Such  is  our  constitution,  and  such  the 
constitution  of  the  moral  government  under  which 
we  live,  that  it  cannot  be  otherwise.  You  are 
asked  to  read  a  book ;  to  join  a  Bible-class ;  or  to 
go  on  an  excursion  to  a  picnic ;  to  take  a  walk,  or 
to  attend  a  particular  religious  service.  Your  ear 
receives  the  invitation  and  carries  it  to  the  mind. 
It  is  considered  with  more  or  less  deliberation 
and  accepted  or  rejected.     Is  it  any  thing  strange 


228  RELIGIOUS   EXCITEMENT. 

that  the  decision  of  such  a  question  should  be 
followed  by  a  train  of  consequences  terminating, 
perhaps,  far,  far  beyond  human  thought,  on  the 
other  side  of  the  grave  ? 

We  are  all  familiar  with  those  periods  in  our 
religious  annals  that  are  called  "revivals," — 
a  phrase  importing  legitimately  nothing  more 
than  a  season  when  "those  who  profess  and 
call  themselves  Christians"  are  led  to  a  more 
diligent  discharge  of  their  duty,  and  the  careless 
and  thoughtless  are  excited  to  inquire  with 
unusual  earnestness  what  they  shall  do  to  be 
saved.  The  means  of  grace  may  not  be  any 
more  available  than  before ;  nor  is  the  way  into 
the  kingdom  of  God  broader  or  easier  than  it 
always  has  been.  The  simple  rationale  of  the 
thing  is,  that  prayers  of  the  servants  of  God  are 
more  fervent,  and  the  means  of  exciting  attention 
to  the  perils  of  the  soul  and  the  retributions  of 
eternity  are  more  faithfully  and  perseveringly 
used ;  and  in  answer  to  these  prayers  and  as  the 
result  of  the  use  of  these  means,  an  extraordinary 
interest  is  awakened  to  the  subject,  and  many  are 
found  seeking  the  way  of  life  and  peace. 

Such  seasons,  though  fraught  with  rich  bless- 


ACCEPTED    TIMES.  '  229 

ings  to  the  Church  of  Christ,  are  not  without 
corresponding  dangers.  Many  mistake  transient 
excitement  for  a  change  of  principle,  and  the 
emotions  of  sympathy  with  those  around  them 
for  supreme  love  to  God  wrought  in  the  soul  by 
the  power  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  But,  nevertheless, 
periods  of  unusual  interest  and  religious  inquiry 
are  eminently  favourable  to  an  entertainment  and 
decision  of  the  question  of  personal  salvation. 
There  is  often  a  peculiar  tenderness  of  conscience  ; 
the  introduction  of  the  subject  is  less  embarrass- 
ing and  more  natural  at  such  a  time ;  and  more 
freedom  is  felt  by  interested  friends  in  urging  the 
acceptance  of  an  offered  Saviour :  so  that,  w^hile 
we  do  well  to  guard  against  mere  impulse  and 
excitement,  we  greatly  err  if  we  neglect  the 
appointed  means  of  grace  or  misimprove  the 
favourable  opportunity  which  such  a  season 
presents  for  securing  the  "great  salvation."  It 
may  be 

"The  hidden  boundary  between 
God's  patience  and  his  wrath.'^ 

20 


230  HOPE. 


CHAPTER  VIIL 

Wliat  is  satisfactory  evidence  of  a  good  Christian  hope — A  simple 
view  of  its  origin  and  foundation — The  office  of  the  law  of  God 
— No  injustice  in  the  dispensation  of  mercy — The  assurance  of 
hope. 

You  ask,  What  is  satisfactory  evidence  of  the 
possession  of  a  Christian  hope?  In  answering 
this  question,  we  shall  do  well  to  confine  our 
attention  to  the  simplest  view  of  the  subject.  To 
treat  of  it  methodically  would  be  beyond  my 
sphere.  You  have  opportunities  for  that  higher 
grade  of  instruction  from  those  who  are  called 
to  the  office  of  public  teachers  of  rehgion,  in  your 
several  places  of  worship.  There  are  a  few  thoughts, 
however,  that  fall  in  with  my  present  purpose, 
which  may  not  be  unprofitably  considered. 

We  have  seen  that  the  only  foundation  for 
Christian  hope  (as  the  term  itself  implies)  is 
Christ  ;  for  it  has  relation  to  the  perfections  and 
promises  of  God  in  Christ,  and  to  the  whole  work 
of  human  redemption,  beginning,  continuing  and 


HOPE.  231 

ending  in  Christ.  It  is  the  same/m  Mndy  with. 
any  other  hope.  The  sick  man  hopes  to  recover, 
and  the  poor  man  hopes  to  be  rich.  The  object 
of  hope  must  be  something  desirable  and  attain- 
able. No  one  hopes  that  he  shall  not  die;  but 
every  one  hopes  to  avoid  death  by  a  slow  fire  or 
by  crucifixion.  Hope  is  to  the  heart  of  man 
what  the  air  is  to  his  lungs, — essential  to  exist- 
ence. In  the  most  desperate  extremity  it  in- 
spires courage  and  prompts  to  effort.  In  the 
narrative  of  the  shipwreck  suffered  by  the 
Apostle  Paul  on  the  voyage  to  Rome,  we  are 
told  that  '^  when  neither  sun  nor  stars  in  many 
days  appeared,  and  no  small  tempest  lay  on  them, 
all  hope  that  they  should  be  saved  was  taken 
away."  But  there  was  one  hopeful  heart  on 
board.  Their  Christian  prisoner  exhorted  them 
to  be  of  good  cheer,  for  he  could  assure  them  of 
safety;  and  Ids  hope  in  the  special  promise  of 
God  excited  their  hope  and  induced  confidence  in 
his  assurance  that  not  a  hair  should  fall  from  the 
head  of  any  one  of  them;  and  forthwith  they 
went  to  work  manfully,  lightened  the  ship  and 
made  toward  the  shore,  which  they  reached  and 
"  escaped   all   safe    to   land."     Paul's    hope  was 


232  HOPE. 

closely  connected  with  his  faith.  An  angel 
brought  a  message  to  him  from  God,  and, 
"  believing  that  it  should  be  even  as  it  was  told 
him/'  his  hope  became  as  an  anchor  to  his  soul. 
There  are  certain  laws  of  vegetable  life,  the 
operation  of  which  is  uniform  and  open  to  obser- 
vation :  so  that 

**  There  is  hope  of  a  tree, 
If  it  be  cut  down,  that  it  will  sprout  again, 
And  that  the  tender  branch  thereof  will  not  cease. 
Though  the  root  thereof  wax  old  in  the  earth, 
And  the  stock  thereof  die  in  the  ground, 
Yet  through  the  scent  of  water  it  will  bud 
And  bring  forth  boughs  like  a  plant,? 

The  Christian  hope  is  founded  on  laws  not  less 
exact  and  uniform  than  those  of  the  natural 
world.  God,  the  supreme  ruler  of  the  universe, 
requires  us  to  love  him  with  all  the  heart  and 
soul  and  mind  and  strength,  and  our  neighbour  as 
ourselves.  Obedience  to  this  precept  would  make 
us  holy  and,  therefore,  happy.  We  have  trans- 
gressed it,  and  are  condemned  by  it.  Conscience 
is  beforehand  with  the  Judge,  and  forces  us  to 
confess  our  guilt.  "  The  law,"  being  but  an  ex- 
pression of  the  divine  will,  is  of  course  "holy 
and  just  and  good  f  and  it  makes  no  provision 


THE    DIVINE    LAW.  233 

for  the  pardon  of  transgressors.  It  is  not,  like 
laws  of  human  enactment,  blindly  made  and 
blindly  administered,  and  so  making  necessary 
reviews,  new  trials,  reversals  of  judgment,  and 
pardons.  The  divine  law  w^as  framed  with  a 
perfect  knowledge  of  all  possible  contingencies 
of  human  actions  and  all  possible  bearings  of 
human  motives  and  influences ;  and  it  is  adminis- 
tered with  infinite  and  unerring  rectitude.  No- 
thing in  heaven,  on  earth,  or  beneath  the  earth  can 
possibly  affect  in  the  slightest  degree  the  exact 
equipoise  in  which  the  balance  is  held  :  so  that 
nothing  can  be  more  hopeless  than  the  condition 
of  the  transgressor  of  such  a  law  under  such  a 
government.  No  wonder  the  apostle^  should 
exclaim,  "  It  is  a  fearful  thing  to  fall  into  the 
hands  of  the  living  God !" 

In  this  desperate  extremity  of  the  human 
soul,  the  voice  of  mercy  is  heard.  A  free 
pardon,  full  salvation  and  eternal  life  are  offered 
to  the  chief  of  sinners.  To  appreciate  such  glad 
tidings,  one  must  be  conscious  of  the  impossibility 
of  escaping  the  just  judgment  of  God  in  the 
irrevocable  exile  of  the  guilty  from  his  presence, 
and  of  course  from  all  the  joys  and  hopes  which 


234  THE    DIVINE    LAW. 

his  immortal  nature  must  forever  crave.  We 
need  not  resort  to  the  fearful  imagery  which 
the  writers  of  Holy  Scripture  (under  divine 
guidance)  employ  to  set  forth  the  ultimate  des- 
tiny of  those  who  die  impenitent.  ^  Privation — 
exclusion — what  they  shall  not  feel — what  they 
shall  NOT  know : — this  is  a  penalty  sufficiently 
appalhng. 

A  school-boy  was  disobedient  to  his  mother. 
It  was  not  the  first  time.  Kind  reproof  had 
followed,  affectionate  expostulation;  but  there 
seemed  to  be  a  purpose  of  heart  to  resist  the 
mother's  authority.  The  father  came  home  to 
dinner  and  was  told  of  the  child's  offence.  He 
went  out  and  stood  upon  the  doorstep,  awaiting 
his  return  from  school.  He  soon  appeared,  with 
his  arm  full  of  books,  and  a  playful  smile  upon 
his  face,  when  the  following  dialogue  took 
place  : — 

Father. — "Well,  my  son,  I  am  sorry  to  find 
that  you  cannot  make  this  your  home  any  longer. 
Even  in  such  a  little  community  as  our  family, 
peace  and  happiness  depend  on  a  compliance  with 
the  laws  of  the  house.  Your  mother  and  I  are 
invested  with  authority  over  you,  and,  without 


THE    DIVINE    LAW.  235 

obedience  on  the  part  of  our  children,  we  shall 
soon  have  general  disorder  and  consequent  sufFer- 
ing.  You  do  riot  seem  disposed  to  submit  to  this 
government;  and  we  think  it  better  that  you 
should  seek  a  home  more  to  your  mind." 

Child. — "  But,  father,  I  don't  want  any  better 
home." 

Father. — ''  That  may  be ;  but  tve  want  a  more 
dutiful  son ;  and  if  you  remain  and  continue  to 
disobey  us,  the  other  children  will  become  dis- 
obedient ;  and  if  one  law  is  broken,  all  may  be ; 
and  then,  you  know,  peace  and  happiness  will  be 
at  an  end.  No  !  I  will  take  your  books,  and  you 
can  go  where  you  like  and  select  a  home  where 
you  can  have  your  own  way." 

Child. — "  But  who  will  take  me  ?  Everybody 
will  ask  me  where  I  came  from,  and  why  I  went 
away  from  you."  This  was  said  with  compressed 
lips  and  evident  emotion. 

Father. — "  Perhaps  they  will ;  and  you  can  tell 
them  that  you  had  a  father  and  m^other  who 
insisted  on  your  obeying  them,  and  you  refused, 
and  so  they  said  you  could  not  stay  with  them." 

(Just  at  this  point  the  dinner-bell  was  heard 
within-doors.) 


236  THE    DIVINE    LAW. 

'"•  There  1  I  must  go  in  to  dinner ;  and  you  can 
go  where  you  please." 

His  lip  quivered ;  the  tears  rushed  to  his  eyes 
in  a  flood.  His  spirit  was  thoroughly  subdued ; 
and  he  promised  that  if  forgiveness  could  be 
extended  to  liim  he  would  henceforth  be  an 
obedient  and  tractable  son.  The  thought  of  being 
disowned  by  his  father  and  mother  and  excluded 
from  the  protection  and  enjoyments  of  a  happy 
home  filled  him  with  grief  and  fear.  Not  to  be 
at  home  was  to  be  without  safety  or   pleasure. 

So  NOT  TO  BE  IN  HEAVEN  IS  TO  BE  IN  HELL. 

Hope  in  the  pardoning  mercy  of  God  must 
have  a  firm  foundation,  or  it  will  perish ;  and  it 
can  be  built  only  on  a  sincere  and  cordial  ac- 
quiescence in  the  divine  will.  It  is  only  when 
we  see  that  the  law  which  condemns  us  is  holy 
and  just  and  good,  that  the  grace  which  pardons 
us  appears  rich  and  free  and  boundless.  There  is 
a  passage  of  Scripture  which  to  many  persons  is 
entirely  enigmatical ;  and  yet  the  language  is  very 
simple  and  its  meaning  very  obvious  : — "  The  law 
of  the  Lord  is  perfect,  converting  the  soul."  P^-. 
xix.  7. 

If  we  consider  the  force  of  these  terms  sepa- 


THE    DIVINE    LAW.  '  237 

rately,  we  shall  more  easily  comprehend  then-  entire 
meaning.  "  The  law  of  the  Lord"  is  the  Avhole 
revealed  will  of  God.  It  applies  to  the  govern- 
ment of  all  worlds, — spiritual  and  material.  It 
is,  in  fact,  a  transcript  of  the  divine  character, 
the  image  of  the  invisible  God,  impressed  on  aU 
his  works  and  ways.  The  biography  and  teach- 
ings of  our  divine  Redeemer  constitute  a  com- 
plete commentary  on  the  law  of  God.  His  spot- 
less life  exhibits  its  extent  and  spirituality, 
while  his  mysterious  passion  and  death  illustrate 
to  angels  and  men  the  infinite  inviolability  of  its 
sanctions.  Of  course  it  must  be  a  perfect  law. 
But  how  does  it  convert  the  soul  ? 

The  strength  and  safet}^  of  a  wall  depend  upon 
its  being  perfectly  upright.  With  the  first  brick 
or  stone  that  projects  from  the  true  line  begins  an 
irregularity  that  will  grow  more  and  more  obvious 
and  dangerous  as  the  wall  rises  :  so  the  workman 
is  furnished  with  an  instrument  called  a  plumb- 
line,  which  is  so  contrived  that  if  applied  to  the 
sides  of  the  wall  it  will  at  once  reveal  the 
slightest  departure  from  an  exact  perpendicular. 
The  least  projection  or  depression  will  appear, 
and  at  this  stage  of  the  work  is  easily  corrected : 


238  »  THE    PROFLIGATE. 

SO  that  we  may  say  of  a  perfect  plumb-line  that 
it  first  reveals  the  irregularities  of  the  wall  and 
it  is  then  drawn  into  conformity  with  itself. 

We  have  been  an  inmate  for  a  day  or  two  of  a 
happy,  godly  family, — the  ]3arents  intelligent, 
judicious  and  devoted  to  the  happiness  of  their 
children,  and  they  (with  a  single  exception)  duti- 
ful and  affectionate  to  their  parents.  The  father 
was  a  man  of  most  exemplary  habits.  His  piety 
was  a  fountain  of  peace  and  joy,  revealed  in  all 
his  words  and  ways.  His  cheerful  temper  and 
uniform  kindness  to  everybody  and  every  thing 
could  not  but  be  attractive  to  all  beholders.  But 
his  second  son  was  a  profligate.  In  his  early 
school-days  he  began  to  exhibit  a  perverseness  of 
character,  which  was  encouraged  by  evil  company ; 
and  neither  the  correction,  nor  the  reproof,  nor 
the  instruction  which  he  received  from  parents 
and  teachers  seemed  to  have  the  slightest  in- 
fluence to  turn  him  from  his  crooked  ways.  At 
length  he  was  detected  in  a  grave  offence,  and, 
under  an  assumed  name,  became  the  tenant  of  a 
convict's  cell.  All  intercourse  between  him  and 
his  abused  and  disgraced  family  had  ceased ;  and 


THE   PROFLIGATE.  239 

he  had  studiously  concealed  from  them  his  resi- 
dence and  pursuits. 

In  the  quiet  twilight  hour  of  one  Lord's  day 
evening,  as  he  was  musing  in  the  solitude  of  the 
prison-house,  suddenly,  and  without  any  conscious 
cause,  he  was  transported  in  fancy  to  his  father's 
house.  The  same  thing  had  happened  before, 
and  he  had  hastened  to  divert  his  mind  from  the 
painful  vision.  But  now  there  was  a  strange 
welcome  ready  for  it;  and  he  was  soon  completely 
absorbed  in  a  review  of  his  depraved  and  foolish 
life.  Such  a  home  as  he  had  voluntarily  for- 
saken !  Such  infatuation  as  had  drawn  him 
away  from  the  society  of  the  virtuous  and  happy 
and  made  him  the  companion  of  fools, — an  object 
of  reproach  and  derision  !     How  could  it  be  ? 

But  that  which  impressed  him  most  deeply  was 
the  remembrance  of  his  father's  faithful  and 
affectionate  treatment.  He  could  not  but  call  to 
mind  the  graces  of  his  father's  character,  the 
faultlessness  of  his  example,  the  purity  of  the 
motives  which  evidently  governed  him,  and  the 
elevated  and  dignified  position  he  held  among  his 
fellow-men ;  and  the  contrast  with  his  own  irre- 
trievable  disgrace  and   degraded   condition  filled 


240  THE    PENITENT. 

him  with  the  deepest  mortification  and  regret. 
He  saw  the  unreasonableness  and  meanness  of  his 
conduct  in  the  glowing  light  of  his  godlj  father's 
example,  and  could  not  but  abhor  a  character 
(though  it  was  his  own)  every  trait  of  which  was 
at  variance  with  it.  He  saw  that  the  tendency 
of  the  law  which  had  governed  him  was  to  mar 
and  destroy  all  virtue  and  happiness ;  and  a  com- 
parison of  his  life  with  the  law  by  which  his 
father  was  evidently  governed,  revealed  its 
hideous  deformity  and  filled  him  with  self-loathing 
and  penitence.  He  sought  and  found  help  in  his 
time  of  need,  and  forthwith  turned  his  steps  to 
the  straight  and  narrow  path  which  his  father 
was  treading. 

The  "perfect  law  of  the  Lord"  is  given  to  us 
as  the  rule  of  our  life.  It  is  the  law  which 
secures  the  happiness  and  purity  of  the  countless 
hosts  of  heaven.  It  embodies  the  infinite  holiness 
of  God;  and  perfect  obedience  to  it  brings  the 
soul  into  the  most  absolute  and  intimate  com- 
munion w^ith  God  of  which  it  is  capable.  It  is 
as  impossible  for  a  finite  mind  to  comprehend  the 
holiness  of  God's  law,  as  it  is  to  comprehend  his 
existence  or  his  attributes  of  justice  and  mercy. 


THE    PERFECT   PATTERN.  241 

They  are  all  "past  finding  out."  The  earthly 
course  of  the  Redeemer  gives  us  the  clearest  view 
we  could  possibly  have  of  the  perfection  of  the 
law  of  the  Lord, 

"  For  in  his  life  that  law  appears, 
Drawn  out  in  living  characters." 

A  steady  contemplation  of  this  heavenly 
pattern  can  scarcely  fail  (under  the  promised 
blessing  of  God's  Spirit)  to  excite  in  a  reflecting 
mind  a  deep  abhorrence  of  sin  in  every  shade 
and  degree.  Nor  can  we  compare  with  this 
divine  rule  the  conduct  and  temper  of  the  holiest 
child  of  Adam  that  ever  lived,  without  perceiving 
at  once  the  appalling  deficiencies.  It  was  a  view 
of  the  holiness  of  the  character  of  God  that  led 
the  patriarch  to  exclaim,  "  I  have  heard  of  thee 
by  the  hearmg  of  the  ear-  but  now  mine  eye 
seeth  thee ;  wherefore  I  abhor  myself  and  repent 
in  dust  and  ashes."  Such,  upon  the  apostle's  mind, 
was  the  effect  of  a  just  perception  of  the  require- 
ments of  this  law  that  all  hope  of  salvation  under 
it  was  instantly  extinguished.  Without  the  law, 
or  a  proper  sense  of  its  purity,  he  was  alive.  He 
seemed  to  himself  to  have  the  functions  of  a 
spiritually  living  man.     But  when  the  command- 

Q  21 


242  THE    OFFICE    OF    THE   LAW. 

ment  came,  with  its  broad  and  unyielding  demand 
of  conduct,  Be  ye  holy,  for  I  am  holy, — sin  revived, 
and  he  died.  Sin  was  seen  to  be  the  living,  active 
principle.  He  found  he  must  look  to  some  source 
of  life  out  of  himself,  as  by  the  law  no  flesh 
living  could  be  justified.  Thus  the  law  became  a 
pedagogue  to  lead  him  to  Christ,  as  servants  are 
employed  to  lead  young  children  to  school. 

The  poAver  of  sin  and  the  intimacy  of  sin  and 
the  soul  are  set  forth  by  the  great  apostle.  The 
law  is  represented  as  sustaining  the  same  relation 
to  the  soul  that  the  husband  and  wife  sustain  to 
each  other.  The  soul  is  bound  to  obedience,  and 
the  law  controls  its  destiny ;  and  there  is  nothing 
that  can  separate  them  but  the  death  of  one  or 
the  other.  If  the  soul  dies  to  the  law  or  ceases  to 
live  by  it,  or  if  the  law  dies  to  the  soul  or  ceases 
'to  be  a  source  of  life,  the  surviving  party  is  at 
liberty  to  form  a  new^  connection.  The  sinner  is 
bound  to  the  law  so  long  as  the  law  is  to  him  the 
source  of  life,  and  obedience  to  it  a  ground  of 
hope  or  a  means  of  salvation ;  but  when  the  law, 
as  a  medium  of  salvation,  is  disowned,  then  the 
soul  can  be  united  to  Christ ;  but  it  must  be  a 
perfect,  untrammelled  union.    Every  thought  of  the 


THE    OFFICE    OF    THE    LAW.  243 

dead  law,  as  source  of  life  or  peace,  is  the  tbken  of  a 
divided  and  inconstant,  if  not  a  treacherous,  mind. 

The  soul  that  is  thus  brought  to  see  its  sinful- 
ness in  the  light  of  the  law  of  God ;  to  feel  its 
poverty  and  helplessness,  and  to  cast  itself  on 
the  mercy  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus  for  salvation,  is 
CONVERTED ',  and  thus  it  is  that  the  perfect  law  of 
the  Lord  converts  the  soul. 

It  is  not,  however,  by  any  inherent  power  in 
itself  that  the  law  accomplishes  this  work.  It  is 
the  special  office  of  the  Holy  Spirit — the  Comforter 
— who  is  sent  into  the  world  to  convince  7nen  of  sin, 
to  reveal  to  them  the  deep  and  dreadful  depravity 
of  their  nature  and  their  need  of  a  righteousness 
not  their  own,  to  render  them  acceptable  to  God. 

We  see,  then,  that  to  the  transgressor  of  God's 
law  the  gates  of  heaven  can  never  be  unbarred 
until  some  adequate  atonement  is  made  for  his 
sin.  There  is  a  bountiful  feast,  prepared  at  great 
expense ;  and  the  invitations  are  extended  gratui- 
tously to  all;  but  the  guests  must  accept,  and 
must,  moreover,  be  arrayed  in  a  prescribed  dress, 
before  they  enter  the  banqueting-room,  or  they 
will  be  ignominiously  thrust  out.  The  dress  is 
furnished  gratuitously,  as  well  as  the  feast.     You 


244  FAITH    AND    HOPE. 

are  aware  of  the  force  of  this  figure.  Without  a 
better  righteousness  than  any  which  our  apostate 
nature  can  attain,  we  can  never  find  our  way  into 
the  kingdom  of  heaven.  Hence  the  devout 
believer  exclaims, — 

*'  Jesus,  thy  blood  and  righteousness 
My  beauty  are,  my  glorious  dress  ; 
'Midst  flaming  worlds,  in  these  array'd, 
With  joy  shall  I  lift  up  my  head.''  * 

It  is  not  one  sin,  nor  any  number  of  sins,  that 
exclude  us  from  the  "  bright  world  of  joy."  It 
IS  A  SINFUL  NATURE.  As  WO  havo  already  seen, 
this  nature  must  be  renewed ;  and  one  of  the  fruits 
or  qualities  of  that  renewed  nature  is  faith,  or 
the  power  of  spiritually  discerning  things  which 
the  carnal  or  unrenewed  nature  can  neither  see 
nor  know.  Another  is  hope,  which  rests  securely 
in  the  promise  and  covenant  of  God,  as  the  ship's 
anchor  takes  sure  and  steadfxst  hold  in  the  hidden 
depths  of  the  ocean.  To  the  eye  of  faith,  Christ 
crucified  is  revealed  as  "  the  Lord  our  righteous- 
ness." By  his  obedience,  sufferings  and  death,  he 
wrought  out  a  righteousness  of  which  the  believer 
^  is  by  faith  made  a  partaker.     How  this  perfect 

*  Hymn  by  Zinzendorf,  translated  by  John  Wesley. 


CHANGE    OF   RELATIONS.  245 

righteousness  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  avails,  in 
the  counsels  of  eternal  purity  and  truth,  to  the 
justification  of  the  behoving  soul,  so  that  it  may 
be  said  that  Christ,  "  Avho  knew  no  sin,  is  made 
sin  for  us,"  and  that  we,  who  are  altogether  sinful, 
are  "made  the  righteousness  of  God  in  him,"  is 
beyond  all  finite  comprehension.  We  are  to 
receive  the  revelation  of  such  a  scheme  of  mercy 
with  the  deepest  reverence  and  humility.  And 
the  moment  the  sinner  accepts  this  oifer  of  a 
free  salvation — which  he  is  made  willing  to  do  in 
the  day  of  God's  power — his  moral  relations 
are  changed.  The  poAver  of  sin  is  subdued. 
To  serve  Christ  his  Redeemer  is  thenceforth 
his  supreme  desire  and  steady  purpose.  He 
hears  or  reads  the  invitation  addressed  indis- 
criminately to  all  men  by  the  Saviour  himself: — 
"  Come  unto  me,  all  ye  that  labour  and  are  heavy 

LADEN,    AND    I   WILL   GIVE    YOU    REST."       He    bclieveS 

that  the  utterer  of  these  words — who  was  once 
on  the  earth  in  human  form,  conversing  with 
men,  eating,  drinking  and  sleeping  as  we  do,  yet 
evincing,  by  the  signs  and  wonders  which  he  did, 
his  absolute  divinity — now  hves  in  heaven  and 
dispenses  gifts  of  mercy  and  grace  to  all  needy 

21* 


246  THE   HOPE   OF   GLORY. 

suppliants.  He  believes  that  he  virtually  accepts 
the  invitation  if  he  obeys  Christ's  precepts  and 
conforms  to  his  example.  His  faith  relies  on  the 
historical  facts  that  Christ  died  for  his  sins,  that 
he  rose  from  the  dead  and  ascended  into  heaven 
and  obtained  gifts  for  men.  In  the  light  shed 
upon  his  conscience  by  the  divine  Spirit,  he  sees 
himself  to  be  a  sinner,  condemned  by  God's  law, 
and  in  himself  incapable  of  restoration  to  the 
favour  of  his  heavenly  Father.  And  the  Saviour, 
who  presents  himself  as  an  object  of  his  faith  and 
supreme  love,  is  just  suited  to  his  forlorn  condi- 
tion ;  for  he  does  all  for  him  when  he  cannot  do 
any  thing  for  himself,  ^'hus  Christ  is  formed  in 
him  the  hope  of  glory.    And  now  his  language  is, — 

"  Sweet  were  the  bitterest  smart 
That,  with  the  bended  knee, 
Would  bow  this  broken  heart ; 
For  who,  my  Saviour,  who  could  be 
A  sufferer  long  that  flies  to  thee  ? 

"As  needle  to  the  pole 

There  fix'd,  but  tremblingly. 

Such  be  my  trusting  soul 
Whate'er  life's  variations  be, 
Forever  pointing,  Lord,  to  thee  \" 

There    is    something   in   this   feature    of    the 
economy  of  divine  grace  which  has  occasionally 


MISAPPREHENSION   OF    PRINCIPLES.  247 

perplexed  even  persons  of  intelligence  and  can- 
dour. It  is  said  tbat  no  account  is  made  of  the 
natural  virtues  and  graces  of  the  human  character. 
A  truthfd,  ingenuous,  affectionate  disposition  is, 
in  the  sight  of  men,  of  great  price.  Is  it  less  so 
in  the  sight  of  God  ?  Are  the  generous,  manly, 
heroic  spirits  whose  deeds  have  adorned  the  an- 
nals of  our  race  to  be  ranked  with  the  selfish  and 
craven,  whose  existence  has  been  either  a  blank  or 
a  blot  ?  Will  you  put  honesty  and  fraud,  chastity 
and  dissoluteness,  honour  and  infamy, — the  best 
and  the  worst, — on  the  same  level  ?  Does  not  this 
encourage  the  wicked  to  pursue  their  evil  ways? 

These  questions  spring  from  a  misapprehension 
of  principles.  Shall  I  venture  to  attempt  a  solu- 
tion of  the  difficulty  by  an  illustration  ?  A  large 
landholder  employs  a  thousand  men  to  cultivate 
his  farm.  They  are  at  liberty  to  use  whatever 
they  can  raise ;  and  he  who  reaps  a  thousand 
bushels  of  wheat  from  an  acre  of  ground  shaU 
become  the  sole  owner  of  his  estate.  They  enter 
upon  their  work.  Those  who  are  industrious  and 
skilful  obtain  larger  harvests  than  they  can  con- 
sume. None  but  the  careless  and  idle  fail  to 
secure  a  comfortable  livelihood;   while  even  the 


248  THE    GENEROUS   LANDHOLDER. 

most  diligent  does  not  approach  the  product 
which  is  to  secure  for  him  the  ownership  of  the 
flirm.  Not  an  hour's  labour  is  bestowed  by  any 
which  does  not  find  a  reward  independently  of 
the  munificent  conditional  donation.  The  hands 
are  all  dismissed  at  the  close  of  the  season ;  and 
has  any  injustice  been  done  ?  Has  not  each 
received  Avhat  it  was  agreed  he  should  have  ? 

NoWj  suppose  the  landholder  concludes  to  give 
away  his  estate,  unconditionally ;  and,  for  reasons 
best  known  to  himself,  selects  as  the  object  of  his 
bounty  one  of  the  most  idle  and  thriftless  of  the 
hands  who  had  been  employed  on  his  farm.  Does 
it  lie  in  the  mouth  of  the  nine  hundred  and 
ninety-nine  to  say  that  the  reward  of  their 
industry  is  any  less  for  such  an  act,  or  that 
it  operates  as  a  premium  on  idleness  and  sloth? 
The  reward  of  their  industry  was  a  matter  of 
debt.  Those  who  earned  their  living  enjoyed  it. 
The  bestowment  of  the  farm  was  a  matter  of 
grace ;  and  was  received  and  improved  as  such. 
He  who  received  it  acknowledged  that  he  had 
no  title  to  it,  and  that  it  might  have  been  bestowed 
with  eqnsi\  Justice  on  any  other. 

The  virtues  which  adorned  the  character  of  the 


THE  UNEQUAL  DEBTORS.  249 

young  ruler  who  came  running  and  kneeling  before 
the  Saviour  were  so  rare  and  conspicuous  as  to 
command  his  love  -,  but  while  he  lacked  one  thing 
the  gates  of  paradise  were  as  effectually  barred 
against  him  as  against  those  who  lack  every 
thing.  The  whole  scheme  of  human  salvation  is 
characterized  by  this  grand  feature^ — grace — free 
GRACE ;  and  hence  the  virtuous  and  admirable 
traits  which  we  justly  applaud  and  present  for 
imitations— though  of  great  value  to  the  possessor 
and  of  inestimable  advantage  to  society — are  of 
no  account  in  determining  how  the  gifts  of  grace 
shall  be  distributed.  If  a  score  of  debtors  owe 
more  than  they  can  possibly  pay,  an  inexorable 
creditor  will  not  discriminate  between  the  different 
amounts  of  their  indebtedness.  They  will  be 
cast  into  a  common  prison.  Such  an  inexorable 
creditor  to  us  is  the  law  of  works.  His  language 
is,  "Pay  me  that  thou  owest."  And  he  will 
not  allow  us  to  depart  till  we  have  paid  the 
uttermost  farthing.  But  in  an  appeal  for  relief  to 
a  throne  of  grace,  the  terms  of  acceptance  are  all 
changed.  He  who  owes  five  hundred  pounds  is 
no  worse  off  than  he  who  owes  fifty  or  only  one. 
It  is  not  wealth,  but  want, — not  innocence,  but 


250       THE  MONK  AND  THE  PRODIGAL. 

penitence, — not  obedience,  but  faith, — that  finds 
acceptance  there. 

There  is  a  story  told  by  a  Persian  poet,  re- 
sembling, though  utterly  inf&rior  to,  the  narrative 
of  the  interview,  at  the  house  of  Simon  the 
pharisee,  between  Christ  and  the  woman  that 
was  a  sinner. 

The  poet  says  that  when  the  divine  prophet  was 
on  earth  he  was  entertained  on  one  occasion  in  the 
cell  of  a  monk,  or  dervish,  of  eminent  reputation 
for  sanctity.  In  the  same  city  there  dwelt  a  youth 
who  was  distinguished  for  being  addicted  to  gross 
sins.  This  youth  presently  appeared  before  the 
cell  of  the  monk,  and,  aef  if  smitten  by  the  pre- 
sence of  the  divine  prophet,  began  to  lament 
bitterly  the  sin  and  misery  of  his  past  life,  and 
with  abundant  tears  implored  pardon  and  grace. 
The  monk,  indignantly  rebuking  his  presumption 
for  thus  appearing  in  his  presence  and  that  of 
God's  holy  prophet,  assured  him  that  it  was  in  vain 
for  him  to  ask  forgiveness ;  and,  in  proof  of  the 
inexorable  doom  of  the  poor  youth,  he  exclaimed, 
"May  God  grant  me  but  one  thing, — that  I  may 
stand  flir  from  this  man  on  the  day  of  judgment !" 
On  this  the  divine  prophet  said,  "The  prayer  of 


THE  MONK  AND  THE  PRODIGAL.       251 

both  shall  be  granted.  This  smful  but  penitent 
youth  has  sought  mercy  in  an  accepted  time ;  and 
it  shall  be  shown  him.  His  sins,  though  many, 
are  forgiven.  This  monk  desires  not  to  be  where 
the  forgiven  sinner  is ;  and  thither  he  shall  never 
come." 

The  austere  monk  has  no  merit  that  justice  can 
recognise;  and  the  pleading  penitent  has  no  sin 
for  which  grace  has  not  a  pardon. 

In  the  frequent  interviews  I  have  had  with 
young  friends  who  were  inclined  to  think  upon 
their  ways,  I  have  met  with  not  a  few  who  were 
unwilling  to  allow  that  thek  remaining  in  a  state 
of  alienation  from  God  was  any  fault  of  their's, 
but  never  with  one  w^ho  w^ould  not  allow  that 
something  had  been  left  undone  that  might  have 
been  done  to  secure  a  reconciliation. 

Now,  a  clear  apprehension  of  the  mission  and 
offices  of  Christ;  a  simple,  childlike  confidence 
in  his  power  and  wilHngness  to  save  me — indi- 
vidually— personally — and  a  cheerful,  complete 
surrender  of  soul  and  body  to  his  service  forever, 
make  me  one  with  him,  and  beget  in  me  a  hope, 
more  or  less  distinct  and  buoyant  according  to 
the  strength  of  my  faith,  that  "because  he  lives  I 


252  A    CHRISTIAN    HOPE. 

shall  Hve  also."  If  I  can  trace,  in  my  prevailing 
emotions  and  habitual  conduct,  a  predominant 
reference  to  his  will  and  an  influential  desire  to 
do  those  things  which  I  believe  to  be  well 
pleasing  in  his  sight,  I  may  hope  that  "  he  is 
mine,  and  that  I  am  his ;"  and  if  upon  such 
evidence,  confirmed  by  the  witness  of  the  Spirit, 
I  am  warranted  to  regard  myself  as  a  child  of 
God,  then  I  am  an  heir, — "  an  heir  of  God  and  a 
joint  heir  with  Christ."  If  I  suffer  with  him,  I 
shall  be  glorified  with  him.  I  shall  be  hke  him; 
for  I  shall  see  him  as  he  is.  To  be  like  him  is 
to  be  holy ;  and  to  be  holy  is  to  be  happy ! 

The  HOPE  of  such  a  portion  fills  my  soul  with 
peace  and  joy.  The  Hght  afflictions  which  attend 
my  brief  sojourn  in  this  vale  of  tears  become 
insignificant.  Life  itself  seems  like  a  vapour 
that  appeareth  for  a  little  time,  only  to  vanish 
away ;  and  then  comes  a  far  more  exceeding  and 
eternal  weight  of  glory, — a  tearless,  sinless,  end- 
less rest ! 

Such  a  HOPE  lifts  me  above  aU  the  changes  and 
chances  of  time.  It  lives  on  the  very  borders  of 
heaven,  and  catches  glimpses  of  the  glories  and  faint 
echoes  of  the  songs  of  the  redeemed  already  there. 


VALUE    OF    A    CHRISTIAN   HOPE.  253 

In  the  midst  of  a  busy  world,  and  in  the  full 
tide  of  health  and  prosperity,  the  mind  is  slow  to 
realize  the  value  of  such  a  hope.  But  to  the 
child  of  sorrow ;  to  the  sufferer  by  sad  reverses ; 
to  the  disappointed  and  care-worn ;  to  the  weary 
occupant  of  a  sick-bed,  what  can  irradiate  the 
future  with  a  gleam  of  gladness  hke  the  hope  of 
perfect,  blissful,  eternal  rest  at  last?  Some  of 
you  have  been  long,  and  perhaps  often,  absent 
from  home.  Have  you  not  noticed,  when  you 
returned  even  after  a  brief  absence  and  drew  near 
to  the  place  where  so  many  of  your  dearest  joys 
are  garnered  up,  how  vividly  imagination  presents 
the  beaming  smile  of  a  welcoming  group  and  the 
warm  embrace  of  loving  parents  ?  The  anticipa- 
tions of  heavenly  joy  and  glory  which  the  souls 
of  the  righteous  often  experience  are  not  less 
vivid  and  animating.  Their  most  intimate  com- 
munion has  long  been  with  the  scenes  and 
inhabitants  of  the  spiritual  world.     Long  has 

"  The  rapt  soul  * 

Listened,  as  if  celestial  harmony 
Her  powers  enchain'd, — as  if  the  paradise 
Of  blessed  ones  unfolded  to  her  view 
Inviting  entrance.'' 

22 


254  VALUE    OF    A    CHRISTIAN    HOPE. 

You  have  heard  or  read  (perhaps  with  in- 
crediihty)  of  the  ecstasy  with  which  many  of  the 
disciples  of  Christ  have  entered  the  valley  of  the 
shadow  of  death.  Whatever  may  be  properly 
put  to  the  account  of  extreme  nervous  sensibility 
or  derangement,  in  some  of  these  cases,  there  are 
others  in  which  the  structure  of  the  mind  and  the 
complete  self-possession  of  the  sufferer  forbid  any 
such  deduction.  There  was  no  anterior  period  of 
their  lives  in  which  more  unequivocal  evidence  of 
intellectual  vigour  and  the  clear  conception  of 
truth  was  given  than  when  their  spirits  were 
about  to  pass  into  the  unseen  world. 

It  has  been  my  chief  purpose  to  produce  in 
your  mind  the  conviction  that  the  Christian  hope 
is  no  shadowy,  dreamy  expectation  of  a  mere 
possible,  or  even  probable,  good,  to  be  attained  in 
some  way,  but  where,  or  when,  or  how,  is  an  un- 
solved mystery.  It  is  this  false  view  of  the 
character  of  such  a  hope  that  leads  many  to 
undervalue,  if  not  to  discredit,  it. 

I  suppose  any  intelligent  American  who  is 
about  to  visit  the  Old  World  for  the  first  time  has 
a  general  idea  of  the  country  he  expects  to  see, 
of  the  language  and  customs  of  the  inhabitants, 


THE    CHRISTIAN    HOPE    REAL.  255 

and  of  the  principal  objects  of  interest  to  the 
traveller.  But  he  is  by  no  means  so  certain  of 
reaching  the  British  Islands  or  the  European 
continent  as  the  Christian  is  of  reaching  a  bright 
and  glorious  world  on  the  other  side  of  death. 
Nor  is  the  traveller's  expectation  of  finding 
Englishmen  in  London,  Frenchmen  in  Paris, 
and  Italians  in  Rome,  any  more  rational  and 
distinct  than  is  the  Christian's  expectation  of 
finding  Abraham,  Isaac  and  Jacob,  with  aU  the 
friends  and  followers  of  the  Saviour,  in  the  kingdom 
of  heaven.  If  he  attempts  to  conceive  of  the 
self-existence  and  attributes  of  God,  or  to  fathom 
the  counsels  of  eternal  love  in  the  redemption  of 
the  world  by  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  or  to  bring 
the  administration  of  divine  Providence,  extending 
to  aU  worlds  and  throughout  all  ages,  into  har- 
mony with  the  judgment  of  the  creatures  of 
yesterday,  his  efforts  will  be  alike  presumptuous 
and  futile.  But  if  he  will  take  the  volume  of 
Holy  Scripture  reverently  into  his  hands,  and 
consult  its  inspired  pages  with  a  prayerful,  hum- 
ble, devout  spirit,  he  wiU  not  be  long  in  discover- 
ing the  true  nature,  basis  and  value  of  a  Christian 
hope.     "  The  meek   God  guides   into  judgment, 


256  CLINGING    TO    CHRIST. 

and  the  meek  doth  he  teach  his  way."  When 
the  Spirit  of  all  truth  comes  to  the  soul  with  en- 
lightening and  sanctifying  i^ower,  its  language 
becomes  at  once  that  of  filial  confidence  and 
buoyant  hope  : — 

"  Holy  Saviour !  Friend  unseen ! 
Since  on  thine  arm  thou  bid'st  me  lean, 
Help  me  throughout  life's  varied  scene, 
By  faith,  to  cling  to  thee ! 

"  Blest  with  thy  fellowship  divine 
Take  what  thou  wilt,  I'll  ne'er  repine: 
E'en  as  the  branches  to  the  vine, 
My  soul  will  cling  to  thee ! 

"  Without  a  murmur,  I  dismiss 
My  former  dreams  of  earthly  bliss, 
My  joy,  my  consolation  this. 

Each  hour  to  cling  to  thee ! 

**  Oft,  when  I  seem  to  tread  alone 
Some  barren  waste  with  thorns  o'ergrown, 
Thy  voice  of  love,  in  tenderest  tone, 
Whispers,  '  Still  cling  to  me  !' 

*'  Blest  is  my  lot,  whate'er  befall ; 
Nought  can  disturb  me,  nought  appal, 
Whilst  as  my  Rock,  my  strength,  my  all, 
Saviour,  I  cling  to  thee  I" 


THE    CHRISTIAN    HOPE.  257 


CHAPTER  IX. 

Further  of  the  Christian  hope  and  its  influences — Not  an  inert 
principle — The  duty  of  professing  it  before  men — What  such  a 
profession  implies — Mistaken  views  of  its  obligations — A  letter 
to  an  inquirer  on  that  subject. 

You  could  not  have  been  more  surprised  than  I 
was  by  the  sudden  call  of  our  dear  young  friend 

M R to  a  brighter    world.     For,  even 

had  we.  no  other  evidence  of  her  adoption  into 
God's  family  than  the  expression  of  her  great 
peace  and  firm  hope  during  the  interval  of  a  few 
hours  between  her  consciousness  of  danger  and 
the  occurrence  of  her  death,  it  would  hardly  be 
presumptuous  to  speak  of  her  removal  in  these 
terms.  But  for  more  than  two  years  she  had  been 
"fighting  the  good  Jight  of  faith."  With  an 
unusual  tenderness  of  conscience,  a  quick  discern- 
ment of  the  path  of  duty  and' steadfast  endeavours 
to  walk  in  it,  she  had  evinced  her  attachment  to 
Christ  and  his  cause  j  and  hence  the  quiet  sub- 
mission of  her  soul  to  his  wiU  when  the  summons 

R  22* 


258  THE    GHRISTIAN    HOPE. 

reached  her.  FeAv  survive  her  who  have  more 
to  make  life  desirable.  Few  of  her  age  have 
stronger  ties  for  death  to  dissolve.  But  some  of 
you  know  with  what  cheerfulness  she  turned 
away  from  all  which  this  inconstant  world  of  ours 
could  give  or  promise^  and  sought  her  cMef  joy  in 
communion  with  an  ever-present  Saviour,  whom 
having  not  seen  she  loved,  and  in  whom,  though 
then  she  saw  him  not,  yet  believing  she  rejoiced 
with  joy  unspeakable  and  full  of  glory.  Her  tri- 
umphant song  was, — 

"  If  Christ  is  mine,  let  friends  forsake 
And  earthly  comforts  flee  ; 
He — the  dispenser  of  all  good — 
Is  more  than  all  to  me. 

"  If  Christ  is  mine,  unharm'd  I  pass 
Through  death's  dark,  dreary  vale ; 
He'll  be  my  comfort  and  my  stay 
When  flesh  and  heart  shall  fail. 

"  Let  Christ  assure  me  he  is  mine, 
I  nothing  want  beside  ; 
My  soul  shall  at  the  fountain  live 
When  all  the  streams  are  dried.^' 

There  is  a  vagueness  in  the  ideas  which  are 
often  entertained  of  the  Christian  hope,  which  I 
should  be  sorry  to  suppose  prevails  among  you ; 
and  yet,  in  a  matter  of  so  much  consequence  to 


THE    CHRISTIAN    HOPE.  259 

our  comfort  and  safety,  it  may  not  be  amiss  to 
analyze  it  a  little  more  carefully. 

It  is  spoken  of  in  Holy  Scripture*  as  a  "  Kvely" 
or  living  hope,  "  to  which  we  are  begotten  by  the 
resmTection  of  Jesus  Christ  from  the  dead ;"  and  it 
is,  in  its  very  nature,  active  and  influential.  The 
hope  of  saving  a  human  life  exposed  to  danger  by 
fire  or  water  inspires  an  extraordinary  courage 
and  energy.  The  hope  of  regaining  health  braces 
up  the  sick  man  to  the  endm^ance  of  the  most 
repulsive  remedies.  The  hope  of  reahzing  large 
gains  prompts  the  adventurer  to  mcur  all  the 
hazards  of  unhealthy  chmates  and  of  journeying 
through  unexplored  territories  and  among  savage 
tribes.  It  is  represented  as  holding  the  soul 
"sure  and  steadfast"  in  calm  self-possession  in 
the  midst  of  Hfe's  severest  calamities,  as  the 
gallant  ship  rides  securely  at  anchor  against  fierce 
winds  and  mountain  waves.  We  may  reasonably 
expect,  therefore,  that  its  presence  will  be  in- 
dicated by  very  decided  tokens.  Among  these, 
alacrity  and  earnestness  in  the  discharge  of  all  the 
duties  to  which  such  a  hope  is  fitted  to  stimulate 
us,  would  not  be  the  least  conspicuous. 

The  Christian  hope  has  its  origin,  life  and  end 


260  THE   CHRISTIAN    HOPE. 

in  Christ.  To  resemble  and  serve  him  here  is  the 
predominant  desire  and  effort  of  his  true  disciples, 
while  their  joy  and  glory  will  be  to  behold  and 
dwell  with  him  forever  hereafter.  Of  course, 
obedience  to  his  commands,  will  be  the  first  and 
plainest  duty;  and  of  these  commands  none  is 
more  clear  and  peremptory  than  that  of  confessing 
him  before  men. 

In  what  FORM  such  a  confession  is  to  be  made, 
is  not  so  clear.  There  have  been  periods  in  the 
history  of  Christianity,  as  you  well  know,  in 
which  any  recognition  of  Christ's  claims  to  the  love 
and  confidence  of  men  exposed  the  party  to  cruel 
mockings  and  scourgings,  to  torture  and  to  death. 
All  testimony  to  him  as  the  Soil  of  God  was  then 
sealed  with  blood.  At  other  times  the  hke  pro- 
fession has  been  a  passport  to  credit  and  influence, 
and  has  often  been  made  from  motives  which 
could  not  but  be  offensive  to  the  "  Searcher  of 
hearts." 

In  almost  all  Christian  communities,  the  act  or 
ceremony  by  which  those  wdio  embrace  the  faith 
of  Christ  become  distinguished,  outwardly,  from 
others  is  their  union  with  some  organized  body 
of  believers,  with  whom  they  commemorate  the 


THE    CHRISTIAN    HOPE.  261 

death  of  Christ  in  what  is  called  the  ordinance  of 
the  Lord's  Supper.  With  the  various  forms, 
terms  and  conditions  under  which  this  introduc- 
tion to  the  visible  fold  of  Christ  is  accomplished, 
it  is  not  my  purpose  to  perplex  you;  nor  would 
it  be  worth  w^hile  (were  I  able  to  do  it)  to  explain 
to  you  the  various  constructions  or  interpretations 
which  have  been  put  upon  the  words  and  acts  of 
our  Saviour  and  his  apostles  to  support  these  several 
theories.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  the  duty  of  some 
avowal  of  our  allegiance  and  attachment  to  him 
is  clearly  implied  in  the  declaration  from  our 
Saviour's  lips  that  ^'  w^hosoever  confesseth  liim 
before  men,  him  will  he  confess  before  his  Father 
Avhich  is  in  heaven." 

The  first  and  most  important  question  to  settle 
in  your  own.  mind  and  in  the  sight  of  God  is  this : — 

Do  I  REALLY  WANT  TO  BE  A  FOLLOWER  OF    ChRIST  ? 

To  one  who  appreciates  in  any  degree  the  love 
which  brought  the  Son  of  God  to  our  earth  to 
make  himself  an  offering  for  our  sins,  it  would 
seem  superfluous,  and  almost  impertinent,  to  put 
a  confession  of  our  obligation  on  the  footing  of  a 
mere  duty.  It  would  seem  as  if  natural  instinct 
would  prompt  the  object  of  such  matchless  love 


262  THE    CHRISTIAN    HOPE. 

to  a  fervent  and  ceaseless  tribute  of  gratitude  and 
praise.  The  modes  and  forms  of  doing  it  would 
be  overleaped  in  the  irrepressible  gush  of  grateful 
emotions. 

If  our  dear  M E had  made  no  pubKc 

profession  of  her  faith  in  her  Saviour, — though  she 
gave  all  other  evidence  of  being  his  disciple  and 
follower, — I  think  we  should  have  felt  that  some- 
thing was  wanting  to  complete  the  outline  of 
Christian  character.  We  might  not  have  felt 
more  confidence  in  the  genuineness  of  her  piety; 
but  it  would  seem  so  natm^al  to  crave  an  associa- 
tion with  the  professed  people  of  God  that  the 
omission  to  seek  it  would  need  some  apology  or 
explanation. 

You  must  allow  me,  in  this  connection,  to  refer 
to  what  was  said  the  other  evening  about  one  of 
our  young  friends,  who  exr.i^^r-^^^ed  her  "regret 
that  she  had  made  a  profession  of  religion,  because 
it  rendered  the  inconsistencies  of  her  hfe  so  much 
more  glaring."  It  is  perhaps  needless  to  say 
that  she  entirely  mistakes  the  true  cause  of 
regret.  The  obligations  to  a  rehgious  life  are 
altogether  above  and  anterior  to  any  external 
profession.     Every  intelligent  creature  upon  earth 


THE    CHRISTIAN    HOPE.  263 

is  bound  to  love  God  with  all  the  heart  and  mind 
and  soul  and  strength,  and  his  neighbour  as  him- 
self. Those  who  live  nearest  to  God  can  do  no 
more ;  and  those  who  are  farthest  from  him  have 
no  valid  excuse  for  doing  less.  N'otliing  can  be 
more  inconsistent  than  for  a  creatm^e  of  God  to 
forget  or  disobey  his  Creator.  The  duty  of  a  child 
to  love  and  reverence  his  parents  is  not  made 
more  clear  or  imperative  by  the  child's  profession 
of  love  and  reverence.  A  citizen's  obligation  to 
support  the  laws  and  institutions  of  the  country  is 
not  enhanced  by  an  avowal  of  his  allegiance.  The 
mothers  and  sisters  wdio  stayed  at  home  and  cul-^ 
tivated  the  fields  and  gardens  evinced  quite  as 
much  devotion  to  the  estabhshment  of  our  national 
independence  as  theu*  husbands  and  brothers  w^ho 
"jeoparded  their  lives  in  the  high  places  of  the 
field."  The  acknowledgment  of  a  debt  may 
revive  evidence  which  has  been  rendered  doubtful 
by  lapse  of  time ;  but  it  adds  no  force  to  the  claim 
of  the  creditor  or  the  obhgation  of  the  debtor. 
In  like  manner,  whatever  duties  we  owe  to  God  or 
to  our  fellow-men  are  not  made  more  imperative 
by  our  pubhc  recognition  of  them.  The  disciples 
of  our  Saviour  were  all  under  as  much  obhgation 


264  THE    CHRISTIAN    PROFESSION. 

to  follow  him  through  evil  report  and  through 
good  report  as  was  Peter.  They  were  all  equally 
reprehensible  for  deserting  him  in  his  extremity; 
but  Peter's  pusillanimity  was  specially  marked  by 
its  contrast  with  his  professions  of  fidehty  and 
devotion.  If  he  had  joined  himself  to  the  disciples, 
as  Judas  Iscariot  may  have  done,  luitJi  the  intent 
to  betray  him,  the  crime  would  be  greatly  aggra- 
vated. And  so,  if  one  connects  himself  with  the 
visible  Church  of  Christ  by  a  conscious  false  pro- 
fession, he  adds  the  detestable  sin  of  hypocrisy  to 
that  of  disobedience,  which  is  in  itself  an  offence 
against  God,  independently  of  all  church-relations. 

Have  I  disabused  your- minds  of  the  impression 
that  by  not  making  a  profession  of  rehgion  you 
avoid  the  obhgations  to  love  and  serve  God  which 
lie  upon  church-members  ?  In  other  words,  do  you 
not  see  that,  whatever  love  or  service  to  Christ  is 
required  of  his  followers,  it  is  no  more  than  every 
one  is  bound  to  render  who  hears  the  gospel  ? 

The  exhortations  to  Christians,  as  such,  which 
are  so  frequent  in  the  Bible,  are  not  addressed  to 
them  rather  than  to  others  because  their  obhga- 
tions are  of  any  higher  or  different  character,  but 
because  their  deficiencies  or  inconsistencies  are  and 


THE    CHRISTIAN    PROFESSION.  265 

must  be  more  conspicuous, — just  as  the  offence  of 
desertion  from  the  army,  in  the  case  above  stated, 
would  be  more  flagrant  in  the  eye  of  the  world 
than  the  neglect  of  the  mothers  or  sisters  to  do 
the  home-work ;  but  the  hoUowness  of  their 
patriotism  and  the  baseness  of  theu^  treachery 
to  the  cause  of  freedom  would  be  the  same  in 
both  instances.  The  case  is  simply  this.  We  are 
all  under  obligation  to  be  the  servants  of  the  most 
high  GTod.  The  large  majority  of  the  world 
around  us  virtually  deny  all  allegiance  to  him. 
"  They  r"^gard  not  the  works  of  the  Lord,  nor  the 
operations  of  his  hands."  The  line  of  separation 
between  the  followers  of  Baal  and  the  children  of 
Israel,  when  at  the  prophet's  summons  they  as- 
sembled in  the  shadow  of  Mount  Carmel  to  test 
the  respective  claims  of  their  objects  of  worship 
to  be  God,  was  not  more  distinct  than  is  the  line 
which  actually  separates  the  servants  of  God  from 
the  rest  of  mankind. 

To  be  classed  with  the  former  requires  a 
positive  stepping  out  from  the  ranks  of  the  latter, 
and  a  conscious,  visible  coalescence  of  affections, 
sympathies  and  purposes  with  the  former.  A 
profession  of  religion,  by  whatever  form  or  cere- 

23 


266  THE    CHRISTIAN   PROFESSION. 

inony  it  is  made,  is  the  taking  of  this  step.  It  is 
an  avowed  renunciation  of  the  world  as  the  por- 
tion of  the  soul,  and  an  unreserved,  voluntary  self- 
dedication  to  his  service.  It  is  no  more  than  all 
are  bound  to  do  who  acknowledge  the  right  of 
their  Maker  and  Hedeemer  to  thek  love  and  con- 
fidence; and  not  to  do  it,  is  in  effect  to  remain 
with  those  who  practically  say  to  God,  "  Depart 
from  us ;  for  we  desire  not  the  knowledge  of  thy 
ways."  I  am  quite  sure  that  any  position  of  your 
relations  to  God  coidd  not  be  less  desirable  in 
your  eyes  than  this;  and  hence  my  conviction 
that  you  will  not  feel  disposed  further  to  urge  an 
objection  to  a  public  profession  of  rehgion  on  the 
ground  of  its  subjecting  you  to  restraints  which 
are  not  equally  imposed  upon  all  men  every- 
where and  under  all  circumstances. 

Questions  often  arise  as  to  particular  points  of 
duty  in  connection  with  this  subject.  In  conversa- 
tion with  young  friends  who  were  favourably  dis- 
posed towards  a  profession  of  theh^  faith,  they 
have  sometimes  spoken  of  their  unfitness  to  sit 
down  at  what  the  apostle  calls  the  "  Lord's  table." 
"  It  would  be  a  great  privilege,"  they  say,  ''  to  do 
so ;  but  they  feel  so  little  love  to  Christ  and  are 


THE    CHRISTIAN   PROFESSION.  267 

SO  often  betrayed  into  follies  and  sins  that  they 
cannot  persuade  themselves  that  such  a  step  in 
their  case  would  be  warranted."  And  perhaps  it 
would  not  be.  Yet  is  there  not  a  still  more 
important  question  lying  behind  that  ?  Admitting 
their  apologies  for  neglecting  a  profession  of  re- 
ligion, that  they  are  not  fit  to  sit  down  at  the 
table  spread  in  the  wilderness  for  the  refreshment 
of  weary  pilgrims  on  their  way  to  the  land  of 
Canaan,  may  we  not  ask  if  they  are  any  more  fit 
to  sit  down  with  the  redeemed  at  the  marriage 
supper  of  the  Lan*b,  when  their  pilgrimage  is 
accomplished?  Whether  they  partake  of  the 
elements  of  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ  on 
earth  is  a  matter  of  very  little  moment  compared 
with  their  true  and  hearty  acceptance  of  Him,  by 
faith,  as  their  only  and  all-sufficient '^Saviom*,  and 
their  preparation  for  his  perfect  and  eternal 
service  in  heaven. 

I  have  sometimes  inquired  of  such  apologists 
what  they  supposed  they  would  do  if  the  Saviour 
should  re-appear  on  the  earth  in  our  nature,  and 
walk  our  streets  as  he  did  the  streets  of  Jerusalem 
and  Capernaum.  He  is  pointed  out  to  you  as 
Jesus  of  Nazareth, — the  Saviour  of  sinners.     You 


268  THE    CHRISTIAN   PROFESSION. 

see  a  crowd  around  him,  but  are  at  no  loss  to 
distinguish  his  figure  and  features.  You  are  with 
a  friend  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  street  who 
does  not  recognize  his  authority  as  a  teacher 
sent  from  God,  nor  his  claims  to  be  regarded  as 
the  promised  Messiah, — the  Saviour  of  the  world. 
A  few  follow  him  wherever  he  goes,  listen  eagerly 
to  his  words,  witness  with  wonder  his  miracles  of 
mercy  and  avow  their  determination  to  share  his 
reproach  and  maintain  his  cause.  These  are  his 
disciples.     You  say -to  your  friend, — 

"I  would  like  well  to  make  one  of  the  httle 
group  that  surround  that  despised  Nazarene ;  but 
I  do  not  feel  as  if  I  were  good  enough  to  be  in 
such  a  company." 

"  Why,"  your  friend  replies,  "  I  thought  his 
pretended  mission  was  to  call,  not  the  righteous, 
but  sinners,  to  repentance.  I  have  heard  that 
one  of  his  sayings  is,  '  They  that  are  whole  need 
not  a  physician ;  but  they  that  are  sick.'  Indeed, 
they  call  him,  by  way  of  reproach,  Hhe  friend 
of  sinners.'  If  that  is  really  his  office,  the  worse 
you  think  of  yourself  the  more  you  must  be 
drawn  towards  him.     If  I  thought  of  myself  as 


THE   CHRISTIAN   PROFESSION.  269 

you  do  of  yourself,  I  should  make  haste  to  join 
him." 

Unmoved  by  this  pungent  exposure  of  your 
inconsistency,  you  turn  the  next  corner  and  soon 
are  out  of  sight  of  the  multitude  and  out  of  hear- 
ing of  their  hosannas  and  curses.  Could  you  flatter 
yourself  that  it  was  really  a  sense  of  unfitness  to 
be  his  disciple  that  deterred  you  from  following 
him  ?  Is  it  credible  to  yourself  that  what  true  love 
would  prompt  you  to  do  under  such  circumstances, 
humility  would  restrain  you  from  doing.  "  The 
woman  that  was  a  sinner"  had  quite  as  lowly  an 
opinion  of  herself  as  you  can  have ;  but  she  ven- 
tured where  few  like  her  would  have  dared  to  go. 
She  expressed  her  love  and  faith  by  acts  which 
betokened  the  depth  and  fervour  of  both;  and 
she  received  extraordinary  assurance  of  forgive- 
ness and  peace  from  Him  "who  spake  as  never 
man  spake." 

I  do  not  know  that  I  can  offer  any  suggestions 
to  you  oh  the  subject  of  a  public  profession  of 
religion  in  a  better  form  than  by  transcribing 
(even  at  the  risk  of  some  repetition)  a  letter 
which  I  addressed  a  few  days  ago  to  a  young 
friend,  not  yet  out  of  school,  who  was  perplexed 


270  THE    CHRISTIAN   PROFESSION. 

about  her  duty  in  this  respect.  Many  circum- 
stances in  her  domestic  and  social  relations  in- 
creased the  embarrassments  which  youth  and 
inexperience  would  of  themselves  occasion ;  and 
though  my  reply  to  her  inquiries  may  not  cover 
all  the  points  of  doubt  and  difficulty  which  beset 
that  crisis  in  religious  thought  and  emotions,  it 
may  supply  some  general  principles  by  which 
they  may  be  solved^  at  least  in  part. 

Friday  evening,  March  30, . 

I  need  not  say,  my  dear ,  that  your  note 

interested  me  very  much;  but  I  feel  no  little 
perplexity  in  respect  to  a  reply.  I  should  be 
unwilling  to  say  a  word  to  you  which  I  would 
not  say  in  presence  of  your  parents,  to  whom 
(next  to  your  Creator)  your  first  duties  are  to  be 
paid.  They  have  the  first  right  (of  all  earthly 
relations)  to  your  obedience  and  affection.  But 
I  am  confident  they  would  never  interfere  with 
what  they  believed  to  be  your  conscientious  con- 
victions of  duty  on  the  subject  of  religion. 
They  are  bound,  you  know,  to  instruct  you  in 
matters  of  truth  and  duty,  and  to  counsel  you  in 
respect  to  the  course  you  should  pursue  in  the 


PERSONAL    OBLIGATION.  271 

discharge  of   your  religious  obligations.     But  in 
the  matter  of  personal  salvation  the  responsibility 
is  an  individual  one.     If  you  should  follow  advice 
that  misleads  you,  while  your  own  convictions  are 
stifled;  it  woukl  avail  but  httle  to  ^y  that  you 
supposed  your  adviser  knew.     You  have  your  own 
conscience,  which,  if  neither   corrupted,   blinded 
nor  seared,  will  give  true  answers  to  all  important 
questions   of  right  and  wrong.     God   has    given 
you  a  mind   capable   of  weighing  evidence,  and 
affections  which  can  be    moved  towards  him  as 
well  as  towards  an  earthly  benefactor.     He  has 
put  into  your  hands  a  revelation  of  his  will  which 
is  simj)le  and  plain ;  and  by  faith  in  it  the   soul  is 
made  wise  unto  salvation.     In  condescension  to 
our  weakness  and  natural  aversion  to    what   is 
holy,  just  and  good,  he  has  promised  to  add  to  all 
other  gifts  the  influence  of  his  Holy  Spirit,  to 
enhghten  and  sanctify  us.     This  gift  is  the  pur- 
chase of  the  sufferings  and  death  of  Christ,  who, 
by  making  himself  an  offering  for  sin,  has  opened 
the  way  by  which  the  chief  of  sinners  may  return 
to  God  and  find  pardon,  peace  and  eternal  life. 

Ileligi(Tn  is  something  immeasurably  above  Pros- 
byterianism,   Episcopacy   or   Methodism.     When 


272  PERSONAL   OBLIGATION. 

people  are  spoken  of  intelligently  as  "religious" 
persons,  we  think  of  them  as  acknowledging  their 
obligations  to  serve  and  obey  God  and  as  striving 
constantly  to  fulfil  them.  To  be  truly  religious, 
is  to  be  a  xhild  of  God,  a  disciple  of  Christ,  a 
subject  of  regenerating  and  saving  grace.  And 
if  these  qualities  and  relations  exist,  it  is  a  matter 
of  very  subordinate  consequence  to  what  particular 
class  or  communion  of  the  Christian  body  we  join 
ourselves,  except  as  the  requirements  and  usages 
of  one  may  be  better  fitted  to  advance  us  in  the 
divine  life  than  those  of  another.  Of  this  we 
must  judge  on  our  own  responsibility, — though  not 
without  due  deference  to  the  opinion  of  those 
whom  we  are  bound  to  love  and  respect. 

To  he  religious,  is  the  duty  of  every  human 
being;  and  every  human  being  who  desii^es  to 
be  so,  has  the  means  and  opportunities,  though 
not  the  same  means  nor  the  same  opportunities. 
Not  to  he  religious,  is  to  fail  of  the  great  end  of 
existence ! 

For  wise  reasons,  the  founder  of  the  Christian 
faith  has  required  that  those  who  embrace  it 
shall  make  an  open  declaration  of  their  choice  or 
allegiance.     The  world  is  alienated  from  him ;  and 


NO    NEUTRALITY.  273 

SO  radical  and  complete  is  this  alienation  that  he 
has    said,   "Whosoever  will  be  a  friend   of  the 
world  is  the  enemy  of  God."    From  the  beginning 
of    the    gospel   dispensation,    the    confession   of 
Christ  before   men   has  been  prescribed   as   the 
condition  on  which  he  will  confess  or  recognise 
his   professed  followers   in    the    day  of  final  re- 
tribution.    No  one  supposes  that  a  profession  of 
discipleship,  of  itself,  makes  one  a  disciple.     Nor 
does    a   man's   joining  the  army  on  the   eve  of 
battle  prove  his  good  soldiership   or  his  loyalty 
to    his  country.     But,  if  such    a    one  would  be 
counted  other  than  an   enemy  or  a  sj^y  by  both 
sides,  he  will  not  fail  to  avow  his  sympathy  with 
one  or  the  other.     It  cannot  be  doubted,  I  think, 
that   where    there    are    two    parties,    occupying 
antagonistic  positions,  one  of  which  we  believe  to 
be    altogether    right   and   the    other    altogether 
wrong,    the   influence    of  a   neutral  spectator  is 
really  given  to  the  wrong. 

The  Bible  represents  the  whole  world  to  be 
"  lying  in  wickedness ;"  and  our  natural  sympa- 
thies are  with  it.  Of  course  those  who  do  not 
separate  themselves  from  it  by  an.  open,  unequi- 
vocal espousal  of  the  service  of  God,  virtually  side 


274  THE    UNSPEAKABLE    GIFT. 

with  the  world.  The  duty  of  making  such  an 
avowal  should  be  clearly  apprehended ;  and  care 
should  be  taken  that  the  motives  prompting  to  it 
are  neither  impure  nor  transient ;  and  then  may 
come  the  question  of  time. 

My  own  conviction  is  that  the  step  should  not 
be  long  delayed  after  the  mind  is  deliberately  and 
intelligently  made  up  to  take  it.  If  the  Bible  is 
to  be  received  as  a  revelation  from  God,  there  is 
no  obligation  resting  upon  us  to  be  compared  in 
importance  and  solemnity  to  that  of  acknowledging 
our  indebtedness  exclusively  to  Christ  for  our  hope 
of  salvation.  '"'  Greater  love  hath  no  man  than 
this,  that  a  man  lay  down  his  life  for  his  friends; 
but  God  hath  commended  his  love  to  us,  in  that 
while  we  were  yet  sinners  [and  of  course  enemies\ 
Christ  died  for  us."  Holy  Scripture  exhorts  us 
to  give  "  thanks  to  God  for  his  unspeakable  gift.'* 
Hundreds  of  thousands  of  Protestant  Christians 
in  every  part  of  the  world  unite  in  weekly,  if  not 
daily,  thanksgivings  to  God  "above  all  things, 
for  his  inestimable  love  in  the  redemption  of  the 
world  by  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ." 

Had  you  never  known  your  parents,  but  yet 
had  received  from  them  daily  and  hourly  tokens  of 


GRATITUDE.  275 

their  love  ever  since  you  were  born,  and  should  you 
unexpectedly  find  yourself  in  the  same  room  with 
them  and  be  told  that  to  them  you  owed  all  the 
comforts  and  blessings  of  your  Ufe,  would  you  ask 
time  to  consider  when  and  how  you  should  express 
your  gratitude?     Or  would  you  hasten  to  make 
your  heartfelt   acknowledgment,   and    repel   the 
thought  of  waiting  as  unnatural  and  base?     And 
have  we  a  single  comfort  or  blessing,  privilege  or 
hope,  which  has  not  been  purchased  for  us  by  the 
sacrifice    of    Christ?     Have   not   his   mysterious 
incarnation,    obedience   and   death   prepared   the 
way  for  our  return  to  our  Father's  house  in  the 
sure  and  certain  hope  of  forgiveness  and  accept- 
ance?     Could   we   anticipate    admission   to   the 
marriage    supper   of    the    Lamb    if    a   wedding 
garment  had  not  been  purchased  for  us  at  such 
an  inconceivable  price  ? 

Ah!  my  dear ,  we  have  very  inadequate 

ideas  of  the  holiness  of  the  divine  law  which 
condemns  us,  of  the  penalty  which  we  have 
incurred  by  the  transgression  of  it,  and  of  the 
helpless  and  hopeless  condition  of  our  race ;  and 
that  is  the  reason  why  the  infinite  grace  of  God, 
displayed  in  the  person  and  offices  of  his  Son' 


276  A    MISTAKE. 

our  Saviour,  does  not  fill  us  with  wonder,  love 
and  praise.  Why  we  should  delay  to  acknowledge 
our  indebtedness  to  him  in  accordance  with  his 
commands,  after  we  have  been  led  by  iiis  gracious 
Spirit  to  feel  our  need  of  him  and  are  assured  of 
his  power  and  willingness  to  save  us,  I  cannot 
conceive. 

There  is  in  many  minds  a  reluctance  to  assume 
the  position  of  a  disciple  of  Christ,  through  fear 
of  dishonouring  him.  But  surely  we  are  doing 
nothing  to  honour  him  or  Jiis  cause  by  neglecting 
to  avow  a  faith  we  feel  or  an  obligation  we 
acknowledge.  If  he  were  now  present,  and  you 
were  persuaded  of  his  claims  to  your  confidence, 
would  you  forbear  to  join  his  followers  from 
a  fear  that  you  might  afterwards  desert  him? 
Would  you  not  rather  go  to  him  the  sooner, 
saying,  "  My  gracious  Saviour !  I  am  a  poor, 
sinful  creature,  with  a  treacherous  heart  and  way- 
ward affections ;  but  I  desire  to  follow  thee 
through  good  report  and  evil  report ;  and,  while  I 
do  my  best  to  cleave  to  thee,  I  must  rely  solely 
on  thy  grace  and  strength  to  keep  me  from 
betraying  or  deserting  thee." 

You  know  our  Saviour  called  Peter  to  be  one 


A   PROFESSION.  277 

of  his  disciples  with  full  knowledge  that  he  would 
prove  false ;  but  if  he  had  not  gone  when  he  was 
calledj  he  would  not  have  proved  false,  it  is  true, 
but  neither  would  he  have  been  the  pioneer 
apostle  of  the  Christian  faith. 

It  is  a  very  dangerous  thing  to  defer  the  dis- 
charge of  any  known  duty.  I  am  aware  that 
persons  have  been  over-persuaded  to  make  a  pro- 
fession of  religion,  and  have  deplored  their  error ; 
but  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands  have  more 
bitterly  lamented  their  neglect  to  do  it. 

You  will  not  understand  me  to  regard  a  profes- 
sion of  religion  as  a  means  of  becoming  religious, 
nor  as  essential  to  salvation.  If  it  is  not  the 
expression  of  unfeigned  sorrow  for  sin,  true  faith 
in  and  love  to  Christ,  and  a  determination,  with 
divine  aid,  to  serve  and  glorify  God,  it  is  worse 
than  a  form.  It  is  not  only  empty,  but  impious. 
And  for  myself,  I  can  truly  say  that  I  have  never 
urged  any  one  to  make  such  a  profession  until  the 
duty  and  desire  were  so  deeply  and  intelligently 
felt  that  not  to  do  it  would  be  to  violate  both. 

And,  now,  I  will  only  say  a  word  about  the 
place.  The  diversity  of  views  and  usages  which 
separate  different  communions  of  Christians  from 

24 


278  A   PROFESSION. 

4 

each  otherj  to  which  you  refer,  is,  indeed,  very 
perplexing.  But  "we  have  a  sure  word  of  pro- 
phecy," to  which  we  are  admonished  "to  take 
heed  as  unto  a  light  shining  in  a  dark  place."  In 
all  those  various  groups  that  hold  to  the  cardinal 
truths  contained  in  what  is  known  as  "  The 
Apostles'  Creed,"  there  are  men  and  women 
whom  Christ  owns  as  his  disciples.  In  determin- 
ing which  of  them  we  wiU  join,  we  are  authorized 
to  inquire  in  which  we  shall  be  most  likely  to 
grow  in  grace  and  in  knowledge  and  in  Hkeness 
to  our  divine  Redeemer.  We  should  be  careful 
that  no  private,  selfish  or  worldly  motives  are 
allowed  to  influence  our  choice;  and,  as  far  as  may 
be  consistent  with  the  clear  convictions  of  con- 
science and  the  development  of  God's  will,  we 
should  avoid  acting  contrary  to  the  wishes  of 
those  to  whose  opinions  we  are  bound  to  show 
deference.  In  questions  involving  duty  to  God 
and  testimonies  against  the  world  and  its  pomps 
and  vanities,  there  can  be  no  compromise.  When 
the  converted  Saul  was  restored  to  consciousness, 
his  first  inquiry  was,  "  Lord,  what  wilt  thou  have 
me    to    do  ?"     He  conferred    not  with  flesh  and 


A   PROFESSION.  279 

blood;  nor  must  ive^  when  the  path  of  duty  is 
plahily  revealed. 

I  have  mingled  much  with  evangelical  Chris- 
tians of  various  denominations,  and  have  found 
equally  earnest,  devoted  and  godly  people  in 
them  all.  I  think  the  considerations  which 
usually  sway  persons  in  their  choice  of  the  church 
which  they  shall  join  are  not  very  definite  or 
well  settled.  Education,  habit,  taste,  casual  asso- 
ciation, or  a  preference  for  •this  or  that  preacher, 
doubtless  influence  multitudes.  If  a  child  of 
mine  should  choose  to  join  a  diiferent  church 
from  that  to  which  I  belong,  I  should  not  object 
to  it,  provided  I  was  convinced  that  the  choice 
was  intelligently  made,  and  that  the  truth,  as 
revealed  in  Christ's  gospel,  would  be  faithfully 
preached  and  his  ordinances  duly  administered  in 
it.  Of  course  I  should  wish  to  be  satisfied  that 
the  associations  would  be  favourable  to  the  health- 
ful and  harmonious  development  of  Christian 
character. 

Had  you  asked  me  whether  you  should  make  a 
profession  of  religion,  I  might  have  replied,  "  Yes, 
if  you  are  religious."  Had  you  asked  wlien^  I 
might  have  replied,  "  Whenever  a  suitable  oppor- 


280  A   PROFESSION. 

tunity  offers ;"  and  had  you  asked  where,  I  might 
have  said,  "  Wherever  you  will  be  most  edified." 
But  such  rephes  would  not  relieve  your  perplexity. 
I  am  aware  of  the  delicacy  of  your  position.  Some 
of  your  dearest  friends — and  among  them  those  to 
whom  you  owe  much — are  not  favourable  to  your 
making  any  rehgious  profession ;  and  it  must  be 
very  painful  to  you  to  take  so  important  a  step 
without  their  full  sympathy.  But  they  will  be 
the  last  to  hinder  you  from  doing  what,  before  God, 
you  feel  it  to  be  your  duty  to  do.  And  they  will 
fully  accord  in  the  sentiment  that  kindred  and 
friends,  and  life  itself,  must  be  surrendered  freely 
and  cheerfully  if  they  cannot  be  retained  without 
a  violation  of  conscience  or  neglect  of  duty  to  God. 
Yom'  best  counsellor  is  always  with  you,  and 
his  love  is  stronger  than  a  mother's.  I  can  gladly 
commend  you  to  Him,  with  the  assurance  he  him- 
self has  given,  that  whatsoever  you  shall  ask  of 
him,  believing,  you  shall  receive. 

Very  truly  and  affectionately,  your's, 


Take  for  yom^  motto,  till  this  question  is  settled, 
Psalm  xx^vii.  5. 


THE    CONSECRATION.  281 


CHAPTER  X. 

TVJiat  is  expected  of  those  wJio  make  a  jprofession  of  religion — The 
hidden  life — Traits  of  Christian  character. 

I   REGRETTED   very   much   my   inability  to   be 

present  when  our  dear  friends , , , 

y and  publicly  consecrated  them- 
selves to  the  service  of  Christ.  Of  an  act  more 
solemn  in  its  nature  or  more  important  in  its 
relations  and  consequences,  it  is  difficult  to  con- 
ceive. For  though,  as  I  have  often  told  you,  it 
does  not  add  any  force  to  pre-existing  obligations 
under  which  w^e  all  lie  to  serve  and  glorify  God,  it 
is  a  deliberate,  express  acknowledgment  of  them. 

Perhaps  some  of  their  acquaintance  expect  to 
see  some  strange  metamorphosis  of  their  habits 
and  manners.  They  may  look  for  a  graver  ex- 
pression of  countenance  and  an  abstinence  from 
what,  heretofore,  they  have  regarded  as  lawful  in- 
dulgences. Have  you  never  noticed  how  very 
common  it  is  to  regard  "  belonging  to  the  church" 
or  not  belonging  to  it  as  the  criterion  for  deter- 

24* 


282  THE    CHANGE. 

mining  whether  the  individual  will  pursue  this  or 
that  course  of  conduct  ?  A  party  of  pleasure  is 
proposed.  In  making  out  a  list  of  persons  to  be 
invited,  a  name  is  mentionedj  and  it  is  immediately 
said,  "  You  needn't  invite  him,  (or  her,)  for  he  is  a 
member  of  the  church,  and  will  not  go,  I  am  sure." 
Or  some  one  speaks  of  having  met  A,  B  or  C  at  a 
convivial  party  or  some  place  of  equivocal  charac- 
ter, when  another  expresses  his  surprise,  ^*  Why, 
I  thought  he  was  a  member  of  the  church  ?"  Or 
some  gross  moral  dehnquency  comes  to  Hght,  and, 
after  all  other  aggravating  circumstances  have 
been  alleged,  the  climax  is  capped  by  saying, 
"  And,  only  think !  a  member  of  the  church, 
too !" 

All  these  modes  of  expression  indicate  a  pre- 
valent popular  notion  that  joining  the  church  is 
embracing  Christianity,  whereas,  in  truth,  it  is 
only  the  avowal  of  a  faith  which  may  have  been 
in  full  exercise  for  months  or  years,  or  which  may 
not  exist  at  all  even  now.  It  is  assuming  a 
position  which  authorizes  the  world  to  hold  us  to 
a  certain  line  of  conduct.  If  our  young  friends 
were  prepared  for  the  step  they  have  taken, — as 
I  trust  they  were, — the  revolution  in  their  views 


THE    CHANGE.  283 

and  principles  was  an  anterior  event,  the  result 
of  which  must  of  necessity  be  a  new  purpose 
and  tenor  of  life,  new  pursuits,  affinities  and 
associations,  among  which  is  this  connection  with 
the  people  of  God. 

Whatever  there  was  attractive  or  agreeable  in 
their  appearance, -disposition  and  deportment  before, 
becomes  more  so  by  virtue  of  this  new  element 
of  character.  You  know  how  often  the  fascina- 
tions of  feature  and  figure  are  eclipsed  completely 
by  grace  of  manners  and  rare  colloquial  powers ; 
and  I  dare  say  you  have  seen  with  what  facility 
a  meek  and  gentle  spirit  wins  admiration  which 
even  the  most  captivating  personal  accomphsh- 
ments  fail  to  secure. 

I  need  not  say  to  you  that  there  is  no  virtue  or 
grace  in  the  jnere  act  of  partaking  of  the  conse- 
crated elements  used  in  the  celebration  of  the  Lord's 
Supper.  The  partaker  is  the  same  after  as  before, 
unless  his  pre-existing  or  concurrent  faith  has  been 
strengthened,  and  his  affections — already  supremely 
fixed  on 'God — have  been  quickened  and  elevated 
by  this  appointed  means  of  gi^ace.  Outward  ordi- 
nances are  the  steps  by  which  we  climb  Mount 
Sion.      They   are   not   the   mountain  itself,   nor 


284  THE    INNER    LIFE. 

yet  the  beautiful  temple  which  crowns  its  summit 
and  which  we  are  striving,  by  slow  and  toilsome 
steps,  to  reach.  The  distinction  I  make  is  one  of 
great  practical  importance.  There  are  few  more 
fruitful  sources  of  error  than  the  substitution  of 
the  modes  and  forms  in  which  religious  emotions 
are  expressed  for  religion  itself.  The  spring  of 
all  such  emotions  is  hidden  from  human  view. 
The  man,  so  far  as  "the  lust  of  the  flesh,  the 
lust  of  the  eye  and  the  pride  of  life"  are  con- 
cerned, is  dead.  '^  His  life  is  hid  with  Christ  in 
God."  The  tokens  of  this  inner,  hidden  life  cor- 
respond with  its  nature.  They  are  spiritual. 
Was  your  friend  naturally  truthful,  affectionate 
and  gentle  ?  Her  religion,  if  it  is  genuine,  will 
give  new  strength  and  lustre  to  these  qualities. 
It  may,  indeed,  present  to  her  new  objects  of 
sympathy,  and  excite  aspirations  and  hopes  to 
which  she  was  previously  a  stranger.  But  it 
cannot  possibly  diminish  or  deform  any  thing  in 
her  character  that  was  pure,  lovely  and  of  good 
report,  or  divest  it  of  any  quality  that  could 
properly  command  your  esteem. 

Suppose  we  inquire  briefly  for  some  of  the  traits 
which  may  be  reasonal;  ly  looked  for  in  a  young 


THE    INNER   LIFE.  285 

Christian,  but  which  are  too  often  very  imper- 
fectly exhibited. 

1.  Religion  ought  to  make  us  cheerful.  Perhaps 
no  impression  is  more  general  upon  worldly  miiids 
than  that  religion  sours  the  temper  and  gives  a 
supercilious  and  austere  character  to  the  bearing 
of  its  professors.  As  if  the  green  earth  were  not 
greener,  the  bright  stars  brighter,  the  glowing 
sun  more  genial,  and  all  the  creatures  of  God 
more  glorious  and  beautiful,  to  one  who  has  been 
adopted  into  his  family,  than  they  can  be  to 
strangers  and  aliens ! 

The  child  of  God  (a  relation  which  every  true 
Christian  sustains)  has  impHcit  confidence  in  the 
infinite  wisdom  and  benevolence  of  all  his  Father's 
doings.  He  cannot  comprehend  his  counsels  nor 
the  vast  arrangements  by  which  he  accomphshes 
his  ends;  but,  hke  the  feeble,  ignorant,  trustful 
child  of  an  earthly  father,  he  is  glad  to  be  led, 
step  by  step,  in  whatever  path  may  be  chosen  for 
him,  and  is  cheered  by  the  confidence  that  none 
of  his  steps  shall  slide.  No  change  of  time,  no 
shock  of  sorrow  or  adversity,  no  assaults  of 
malignant  adversaries  can  much  confound  or  long 


286  THE    INNER   LIFE. 

disturb  him  that  "  clwelleth  in  the  secret  place  of 
the  Most  High." 

When  we  see  persons  whom  we  suppose  to  be 
sincere  Christians  yielding  to  violent  emotions  of 
grief  or  mortification  under  some  sore  calamity  or 
unexpected  reverses,  we  may  hastily  conclude 
that  they  distrust  the  wisdom  or  love  of  their 
heavenly  Father.  But  we  forget  that  our  religion 
does  not  profess,  nor  is  it  designed,  to  enervate  or 
blunt  our  naturM  affections.  The  end  would  be 
defeated  by  such  a  result.  Its  divine  founder 
was  "a  man  of  sorrows  and  acquainted  with 
grief."  Human  nature  knows  no  deeper  emotions 
than  he  manifested  in  the  days  of  his  flesh ;  and 
now  that  he  "  is  exalted  above  all  principalities 
and  powers,  and  might  and  dominion,  and  every 
name  that  is  named  either  in  this  world  or  in 
that  which  is  to  come,"  he  sympathizes  no  less 
deeply  in  human  sorrow  and  offers  no  less  liberally 
his  succor  and  support. 

When  you  see  one  whom  you  have  supposed  to 
be  a  disciple  of  Christ  groaning  and  weeping  under 
the  pressure  of  sorrow,  think  of  a  crucible  in  which 
a  refiner  is  purifying  some  precious  metal  from 
dross.     The  glowing  heat,  though  almost  intole- 


THE    FRUITS.  287 

rable  to  the  refiner  himself  is  indispensable  to 
complete  the  process ;  nor  (as  it  has  been  beauti- 
fully said)  will  it  be  complete  till  the  metal  is  so 
pure  that  his  own  image  is  reflected  from  its 
surface.  True  religion  is  a  purifying  principle ; 
and  the  afflictive  dispensations  of  God's  pro- 
vidence are  designed  not  only  to  test  its  genuine- 
ness, but  to  increase  its  strength  and  activity. 

"  The  ground  may  be  covered  with  gay  flowers 
and  yet  be  a  desert ;  but  when  it  is  broken  up 
and  harrowed  I  feel  sure  the  husbandman  has 
been  there,  and  that  he  means  to  sow  seed  there, 
and  in  due  time  I  shall  look  for  a  crop." 

Sustaining  grace  is  bestowed  by  the  same  hand 
that  holds  the  rod ;  and  hence  the  apparent  paradox 
of  "joy  in  tribulation."  If  there  were  no  tears, 
who  would  know  the  blessedness  of  having  them 
wiped  away  in  the  world  to  come  ? 

"  Count  each  affliction,  whether  light  or  grave, 
God's  messenger  sent  down  to  thee.     Do  thou 
With  courtesy  receive  him  ;  rise  and  bow; 
And,  ere  his  shadoAV  pass  thy  threshold,  crave 
Permission  first  his  heavenly  feet  to  lave, 
Then  lay  before  him  all  thou  hast.    Grief  should  be 
Like  joy, — majestic,  equable,  sedate. 
Confirming,  cleansing,  raising,  making  free ; 
Strong  to  consume  small  troubles ;  to  commend 
Great  thoughts, — grave  thoughts, — thoughts  lasting  to  the  end.'' 


288  THE    FRUITS. 

2.  Religion  also  checks  undue  elevation  and  excite- 
ment in  seasons  of  prospeintt/.  The  desires  and 
affections  are  kept  in  that  state  of  quiet,  submis- 
sive, satisfied  repose  which  is  most  conducive  to 
iliQ  true  enjoyment  of  the  present  world  and  to 
the  due  preparation  of  the  soul  for  the  next.  I 
can  conceive  of  no  condition  so  completely  adapted 
to  the  wants  of  the  human  soul,  through  its  whole 
being,  as  that  of  one  who  has  fully  consecrated 
himself  to  the  service  of  God ;  merged  his  own 
will  in  the  will  of  God ;  accepted  the  pardon  of 
his  sins  through  divine  mercy  in  Christ,  with  a 
grateful,  penitent,  trustful  heart,  and  relies  upon 
covenanted  grace  for  strength  to  obtain  the  victory, 
and  more  than  a  victory,  in  every  conflict, — even 
the  last.  I  can  conceive  of  nothing  that  would 
add  to  the  safety  or  happiness  of  such  an  one. 
With  nothing  to  mar  his  present  joy,  nothing  to 
overcast  his  bright  future,  who  should  be  cheerful 
if  not  he  ?  Why  should  a  scowl  of  discontent 
ever  cloud  his  brow  or  an  anxious  sigh  escape  his 
lips  ?  The  voice  he  hears  in  the  stormy  wind 
and  tempest  is  the  same  that  speaks  to  him  in  the 
genial  sunshine  and  gentle  shower.  The  present 
life  and  the   future  are  only  two  conditions,  in 


CAUTIONS.  289 

which  the  same  service  is  to  be  performed  for  the 
same  Master :  here,  imperfectly  and  with  many 
clogs  and  drawbacks ;  there,  purely,  perfectly  and 
eternally.  Let  every  Cliristian  be  cheerful,  buoyant 
and  happy,  if  he  would  persuade  his  fellow-men 
that  his  religion  is  his  chief  joy. 

3.  Religion,  if  genuine,  will  prompt  us  to  do  all 
the  good  we  can, — not  only  embracing  opportunities 
of  usefulness  which  present  themselves,  but  seek- 
ing them  out  and  qualifying  ourselves  for  the 
highest  improvement  of  them. 

Some  persons  act  as  if  a  connection  with  the 
church  absolved  them  from  all  further  respon- 
sibihty.  They  go  from  the  world  into  the  church 
as  a  traveller  steps  from  a  wharf  to  the  deck  of 
the  vessel  that  is  to  convey  him  to  a  distant  port. 
But,  in  truth,  to  become  a  church-member,  is  to  as- 
sume the  profession  and  garb  of  a  labourer  in  the 
vineyard  of  the  Lord ;  and  though  the  service  may 
not  be  entirely  new,  it  is  entered  upon  with  more 
system  and  under  new  advantages.  A  constant 
and  punctual  use  of  the  means  of  grace,  which  such 
a  connection  affords,  is  an  obvious  duty.  Attend- 
ance at  the  house  of  prayer,  the  careful  observ- 
ance of  appointed  ordinances,  and  a  warm  sym- 

T  25 


290  CAUTIONS. 

pathj  with  the  various  plans  and  agencies  for 
extending  the  blessings  of  the  common  salvation^ 
may  be  reasonably  expected ;  and  yet  to  some  of 
these  duties  young  Christians  are  very  apt  to 
grow  indiiferent.  It  is  not  unusual  to  observe 
a  religious  activity  which  has  but  a  remote  rela- 
tion to  active  religion. 

In  the  earnest^  impetuous,  perhaps  conscien- 
tious, endeavour  to  be  very  useful,  persons  may 
neglect  the  cultivation  of  those  graces  which  are 
essential  to  great  usefulness  in  Christian  enter- 
prises. The  traveller  who  is  in  such  haste  to 
accomplish  his  journey  as  to  neglect  to  feed  and 
rest  his  horse  shows  more  zeal  than  judgment. 
There  is  a  mistake  not  unfrequently  made  by 
those  who  are  regarded  as  masters  in  Israel.  It 
is  in  urging  young  persons  to  the  occupation  of 
conspicuous  and  responsible  positions,  for  which 
they  are  ill  qualified,  as  a  means  of  givij^ig  them 
confidence  and  courage.  If  such  experiments 
could  be  tried  without  putting  in  peril  other 
interests  quite  as  important,  such  a  mistake  would 
be  less  mischievous.  It  is  very  common  to  press 
quite  young  professors  of  religion  into  the  very 
sacred  and  delicate  office  of  teaching  children  in 


CAUTIONS.  291 

the  Sunday-school  or  of  leading  in  the  devotions 
of  social  assemblies.  When  the  invitation  is  de- 
clined on  the  ground  of  conscious  incompetency, 
instead  of  commending  the  modesty  which  prompts 
a  little  delay  and  using  the  interval  for  such 
instruction  and  training  as  shall  prepare  the 
party  for  better  and  more  enduring  service  in  a 
year  or  two,  immediate  entrance  upon  the  work  is 
urged, — oftentimes  to  the  lasting  disadvantage  of 
all  concerned.  Many  a  man  has  carried  deformed 
limbs  to  the  grave  in  consequence  of  being  put 
upon  his  legs  before  they  were  strong  enough  to 
bear  his  weight.  While  we  should  not  shrink 
from  any  duty  which  the  providence  of  God 
plainly  imposes,  but,  as  just  now  intimated, 
-should  watch  for  opportunities  to  be  useful,  it  is 
safer  and  better  for  us  to  occupy  well  an  humble 
sphere  than  to  attempt  what  may  prove  too  high 
for  us.  Some  travellers  fail  to  reach  their 
journey's  end  because  they  set  out  at  a  pace 
which  they  cannot  maintain;  and  young  Chris- 
tians often  become  disheartened  in  consequence 
of  abortive  efforts  to  accomplish  what  is  not 
within  their  province  or  power. 

4.    Naturally    connected    with    the   preceding 


292  PRIVATE    DUTIES. 

cautions  is  some  reference  to  the  private  personal 
duties  of  your  new  profession.  The  divine  life 
once  commenced  admits  of  no  halting.  When 
the  hand  has  been  put  to  the  plough  there  must 
be  no  looking  back.  No  human  being  is,  in  his 
moral  condition,  to-day  what  he  was  yesterday. 
He  is  nearer  to  God  or  further  from  him. 

We  have  often  discussed  the  various  methods 
by  which  the  life  of  God  is  maintained  in  the 
soul  of  man.  The  foot  of  the  mysterious  ladder 
upon  which  the  angels  of  God  ascended  and 
descended,  rested  upon  earth,  while  its  top  was 
in  heaven ;  and  it  is  thus  an  a])propriate  emblem 
of  the  way  of  access  which  has  been  opened  for 
sinners  to  the  throne  of  grace.  There  is  such 
a  thing  as  communion  Avith  the  infinite  God  even- 
while  the  soul  of  the  believer  is  imprisoned  in 
the  earthly  house  of  this  tabernacle ;  and  it  is 
only  by  such  communion  that  it  is  nourished  and 
strengthened  and  armed  for  conflicts  with  the 
world,  the  flesh  and  the  devil.  Every  victory 
over  a  spiritual  foe,  every  earnest  prayer,  every 
holy  desire,  gives  the  soul  an  upward  impulse. 

The  Scriptures  testify  of  Christ ;  and  by  read- 
ing,   marking,    learning   and    inwardly    digesting 


CAUTIONS.  293 

them  we  are  encouraged  to  hope  for  higher  and 
further  communications  of  the  Spirit  that  dictated 
them.  It  is  a  good  habit  to  read  studiously,  in 
solitude,  every  morning,  one  chapter  of  the  Old 
Testament  and  one  in  the  New,  and  no  more. 
Use  a  Bible  with  references ;  and  when  important 
doctrines  or  duties  are  disclosed  by  the  texts, 
carefully  examine  parallel  passages.  When  doubt 
or  obscurity  occurs,  it  is  sometimes  of  service  to 
consult  a  commentator ;  but  consult  him  as 
you  would  an  intelligent  Christian  friend  who 
happened  to  be  in  the  house, — not  as  conclusive 
authority,  nor  to  save  yourself  the  trouble  of  think- 
ing, nor  for  the  gratification  of  curiosity  to  see 
of  what  ingenious  interpretation  it  may  be  sus- 
ceptible, but  to  gain  the  advantage  of  a  comparison 
of  opinions. 

Read  with  care.  Preserve,  if  possible,  in  the 
mind  or  on  paper,  some  connection  between  the 
portions  read,  so  far  as  it  exists,  or  so  far  as  the 
references  enable  you  to  trace  one.  It  is  well 
after  reading  to  allow  the  mind  to  dwell  for  a 
little  season  on  the  particular  scope  of  the  pass- 
age, and  to  seek,  both  before  and  after,  those 
gracious   influences    by  which   the    dark    under- 

2b^ 


294  CAUTIONS. 

standing  is  enlightened,  and  the  mind  enabled  to 
discern,  the  conscience  to  apply  and  the  heart  to 
feel  and  yield  to  the  truth. 

5.  Such  a  preparation  for  the  duties  and  tempt- 
ations of  each  day  must  be  followed  up  by  a 
watchful  superintendence  of  the  heart  and  tongue. 

You  remember  Miss said,  the  other  evening, 

that  she  was  quite  discouraged  by  finding  that 
the  more  she  tried  to  be  consistent  in  speech  and 
conduct  the  more  mortifying  were  her  failures .  The 
explanation  of  this  is  by  no  means  difficult.  The 
more  exact  the  rule  and  rigid  its  application,  the 
more  obvious  the  inequalities  of  the  surface  to 
which  it  is  applied.  People  who  compare  them- 
selves among  themselves  slip  along  very  easily ; 
but  he  that  looks  into  the  perfect  law  of  God,  as 
into  a  mirror,  will  readily  discern  deformities  and 
defilements  which  will  keep  him  humble.  His 
secret  sins  will  be  revealed  in  a  light  so  strong 
and  clear  that  he  will  be  driven  for  succour  and 
Safety  "  to  the  Rock  that  is  higher  than  himself." 

No  wonder  that  our  young  friend  is  often 
baffled  in  contests  with  the  Prince  of  darkness. 
She  would  be  cast  down  and  utterly  destroyed 
were   it  not  that    her   faith   is   in   One   whose 


CAUTIONS.  295 

strength  is  made  perfect  •  in  her  weakness,  and 
who  has  promised  a  complete  victory  to  those 
who  are  not  faithless,  hut  beheving.  The  nearer 
she  approaches  to  God,  the  more  hideous  and 
revolting  will  sin  appear.  What  a  joyful,  ani- 
mating thought  it  is,  that  when  admitted  to  his 
bhssful  presence  we  shall  he  beyond  the  reach 
not  only  of  sin,  but  of  temptation ! 


296  THE   LEAVEN. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

Religion  a  pervading  principle — Apparel  and  amusements — Exer- 
cise— Jhe  Lord's  day  and  its  occupations — Sunday  reading. 

There  are  some  topics,  of  subordinate  import- 
ance, perhaps,  upon  which  you  will  allow  me  to 
give  you  a  few  hints. 

When  the  leaven  is  hid  in  the  meal,  its  influence 
pervades  the  whole  mass.  Not  a  particle  escapes. 
"  The  whole  is  leavened."  So  the  Christian  princi- 
ple, when  fau-ly  installed  in  the  government  of 
the  thoughts  and  conduct,  exerts  its  power  over 
every  act  and  purpose. 

You  will  agree  with  me,  I  presume,  that  good 
taste  is  as  much  evinced  as  sound  judgment  and 
propriety  in  simplicity  of  apparel.  This  may  be 
observed  without  excluding  from  one's  wardrobe 
a  single  item  which  would  contribute  to  real 
grace,  dignity  or  personal  attractiveness.  You 
are  perhaps  scarcely  aware  of  the  transparency 
(to  the  eyes  of  our  sex)  of  the   motive  which 


APPAREL.  297 

prompts  the  superfluous  adornment  or  ostentatious 
display  of  the  person.  There  can  be  no  doubt  of 
the  lawfulness  and,  indeed,  the  duty  of  making 
ourselves  agreeable  to  others,  not  only  in  our 
manners  and  conversation,  but  in  our  personal 
carriage  and  appearance;  and  hence  it  is  right 
to  consult  propriety  and  good  taste  in  the 
adaptation  and  congruity  of  dress.  But  the 
slavish  regard  to  prevailing  fashions,  the  restless 
desire  to  be  in  them,  and  the  obvious  intent  to 
attract  notice  by  a  display  of  personal  orna- 
ments or  the  profusion  or  the  still  more  indelicate 
and  offensive  deficiency  of  dress,  are  as  repugnant 
to  good  sense  as  to  religious  duty  and  consistency. 
There  is  something  very  suggestive  and  humiU- 
ating  in  the  famihar  couplet  of  the  child's  hymn  : — 

"  The  art  of  dress  did  ne'er  begin 
Till  Eve,  our  mother,  learn'd  to  sin.'' 

I  would  advocate  no  ultraism  in  either  direc- 
tion, but  a  steadfast  adherence  to  that  simphcity 
which  is  equally  removed  from  severe  plainness 
and  garish  display,  and  which  betokens  the  ab- 
sence of  any  desire  to  a^itract  observation. 

The  apostle's  injunction  does  not  forbid  a  proper 
regard  to  taste  and  propriety  in  the   matter  of 


298  AMUSEMENTS. 

apparel ;  but,  in  accordance  with  the  whole  tenor 
of  Holy  Scripture,  he  inculcates  the  "inward 
adorning"  of  a  "meek  and  quiet  spirit,"  which 
will  of  itself  solve  any  doubts  respecting  the 
mode  of  plaiting  the  hair,  or  the  wearing  of  gold, 
or  the  putting  on  of  apparel. 

To  w^hat  extent  you  may  safely  adopt  the 
practices  or  mingle  in  the  pursuits  of  the  fashion- 
able world,  you  need  be  at  no  loss  to  determine. 
You  may  be  assured  that  no  one  has  more  un- 
feigned pleasure  in  witnessing  the  social  enjoy- 
ments of  young  persons  than  I  have.  I  would 
promote  them  in  all  lawful  ways.  I  am  sure 
innocent  indulgence  in  the  pleasures  which  our 
heavenly  Father  has  so  bountifully  provided  and 
given  us  capacities  to  enjoy,  contributes  to  health 
and  to  the  full  and  harmonious  develop ement  of 
our  moral  and  physical  nature.  Nevertheless,  I 
could  not  entertain  the  idea  for  a  moment  that  to 
secure  such  enjoyment  it  is  needful  to  be  one  of 
the  giddy  throng  of  fashion,  gossip  and  display, 
or  to  suffer  wdth  them  the  w\aste  of  vital  energy, 
the  encroachments  on  time,  and  the  dissipation 
of  all  sober  reflection,  to  say  nothing  of  the  fond- 
ness for  flattery  and  admiration  which  is  sure  to 


AMUSEMENTS.  299 

be  engendered.  Of  the  absorbing  demand  thus 
made  on  the  thoughts  and  purposes,  the  exposure 
of  health,  and  the  temptations  to  overstep  the 
bounds  of  propriety  and  self-respect,  I  need  not 
remind  you. 

On  the  subject  of  amusements  I  am  well  aware 
there  is  much  diversity  of  opinion ;  and  it  is  very 
difficult  to  prescribe  any  rule  by  which  to  fix  the 
boundary  between  the  harmless  and  the  hurtful. 
My  impression  is  that  the  law  of  Christian  duty 
interdicts  much  that  is  in  itself  perfectly  innocent, 
and  in  which  you  and  I  (but  for  this  law)  might 
safely  indulge;  and  hence  it  must  be  left  in 
some  measure  to  an  enlightened  conscience  and  a 
proper  regard  to  the  well-being  of  others  to  resolve 
many  questions  that  may  arise  touching  the  law- 
fulness of  this  or  that  amusement. 

It  is  certainly  true  that  our  physical  and  intel- 
lectual nature  is  so  constituted  that  amusement  of 
some  sort  is  craved  with  an  eagerness  not  to  be 
repressed.  The  moderate  relaxation  of  mind  and 
body  is  one  of  the  first  requisites  to  the  health 
of  either.  Your  sex  is  excluded  from  most  athle- 
tic exercises ;  but  the  circle  of  active  and  exciting 
amusements   for   you   has    been   much    enlarged 


300  AMUSEMENTS. 

within  a  few  years.  In  the  country,  opportunities 
for  out-of-door  exercise  are  of  constant  occurrence. 
The  comparative  seclusion  from  observation,  and 
the  variety  of  employments  within  and  without, 
the  pure  and  bracing  air,  and  the  boundless 
expanse  of  field  and  forest  in  which  to  roam, 
combine  to  make  country  life  a  continual  amuse- 
ment to  temporary  residents.  In  the  city,  for  a 
large  part  of  the  year,  out-of-door  exercise  by 
walking — brisk,  earnest  walking, — not  sauntering 
along  the  promenade  of  fashion  and  feasting  the 
eye  on  the  "  new  styles"  in  the  shop-windows — is 
more  practicable  than  in  the  country. 

Sedentary  amusements  are  well  enough  in  their 
place,  and,  if  not  connected  with  the  excitement 
of  vicious  passions  nor  conducive  to  the  formation 
of  vicious  habits,  should  be  encouraged.  Cards 
are  open  to  both  these  objections.  In  dancing,  as 
it  is  practised  in  modern  times,  there  is  very  little 
healthful  exercise.  The  most  fashionable  forms 
in  w^hich  it  prevails  are  well  fitted,  and,  doubtless, 
were  originally  designed,  to  minister  to  the  lowest 
passions  of  our  nature.  No  one  pretends  that 
the  graceful  motions  of  the  body  adjusted  to  the 
measure  of  music  by  two  or  more  persons  is,  in 


AMUSEMENTS.  301 

itself,  objectionable  as  an  amusement;  nor  can 
any  one  look  without  pleasure  upon  a  group  of 
young  children  in  a  private  parlour  engaged  in  this 
way.  But  who  is  illogical  enough  to  argue  from 
this  that  there  is  no  less  harmlessness  in  the  in- 
discriminate association  of  the  sexes  in  a  public 
room,  with  all  the  display  of  person  and  dress 
which  accompanies  such  scenes;  the  encroachment 
upon  hours  which  nature  claims  for  repose;  the 
exposure  of  health  by  sudden  transitions  from 
one  temperature  to  another,  and  the  exhaustion 
of  physical  and  mental  powers  which  must  neces- 
sarily succeed  such  irregularities  ?  I  cannot  say 
that  no  one  could  come  out  of  such  a  fiery  trial 
of  virtue  and  purity  unscathed,  but  I  am  sure  it 
is  a  risk  which  no  considerate  Christian  would 
voluntarily  incur;  and  I  apprehend  that  fami- 
liarity with  such  scenes,  however  attractive  and, 
exciting  at  the  moment,  does  not  afford  substantial 
satisfaction  even  to  the  votaries  of  the  world. 
Riding  on  horseback,  bowling,  skating,  rowing  and 
swimming  are  among  the  modes  of  exercise  open 
to  females, — though  w^e  are  aware  that  none  of 
them  equal  in  appropriateness  and  efficacy  the 
stirring    employments    of    women    of    old.     No 

26 


302  AMUSEMENTS. 

modern  gymnasium  can  supply  the  place  of  the 
great  spinning-wheel,  the  use  of  which  exercised 
all  the  muscles  of  the  body  in  equal  proportion, 
and  at  the  same  time  excited  the  mind  by  the 
accomplishment  of  a  useful  end.  Whatever 
critics  may  make  of  the  passage  in  Old  Testa- 
ment history  which  describes  one  of  the  func- 
tions of  "ladies,"  we  receive  it  in  its  obvious 
meaning  and  heartily  subscribe  to  the  wisdom 
of  their  w^ays  : — "And  all  the  women  that  were 
wise-hearted  did  spin  with  their  hands,  and 
brought  that  which  they  had  spun,  both  of  blue, 
and  of  purple,  and  of  scarlet,  and  of  fine  hnen. 
And  all  the  women  whose  heart  stirred  them  up 
in  wisdom  spun  goats'  hair." 

The  cultivation  of  a  musical  taste,  and  the 
moderate  indulgence  of  it,  is  quite  lawful  and 
laudable.  Whether  the  time  and  money  which 
are  bestowed  on  the  mere  accomphshment,  as  a 
branch  of  female  education,  are  wisely  expended, 
is  not  so  clear.  Few  persons  avail  themselves  of 
it  in  after-life  as  a  source  of  amusement;  and 
fewer  still  attain  such  a  degree  of  skill  as  is  need- 
ful to  give  much  satisfaction  to  themselves  or 
others.     But  our  present  business  is  rather  with 


AMUSEMENTS.  303 

the  propriety  or  lawfulness  of  some  of  the  forms 
of  catering  to  the  musical  taste  of  the  pubhc 
which  are  regarded  as  objectionable. 

Among  these  the  opera  holds  the  chief  place. 
It  is  nothing  more  nor  l^ss  than  a  dramatic  com- 
position set  to  music  and  sung  upon  the  stage, 
accompanied  with  musical  instruments  and  the 
usual  machinery  employed  for  stage  effect.  There 
can  be  no  doubt  that  the  appendages  to  the  opera, 
apart  from  its  musical  attractions,  are  not  essen- 
tially different  from  those  of  the  theatre.  The 
performers  are  generally  of  no  better  social  or  moral 
character.  The  incidents  represented  are  not  less 
open  to  animadversion,  and  the  excitement  is  sub- 
stantially the  same  in  kind  and  degree.  No  one 
will  pretend  that  attendance  at  such  a  place  of 
amusement  is  fitted  to  prepare  the  mind  for  those 
daily  duties  which  no  Christian  or  servant  of  God 
would  wilhngly  neglect.  Who  does  not  encounter 
enough  hinderances  to  a  religious  life,  without 
going  out  of  his  way  to  multiply  them  ? 

There  are  those  who  attempt  to  fasten  a 
charge  of  inconsistency  upon  such  as  oppose  the 
opera  and  yet  admire  some  passages  of  the  music 
and  even  favour  their  introduction  into  the  services 


304    "  AMUSEMENTS. 

of  public  worship.  It  would  be  quite  as  logical 
and  just  to  say  that  because  one  quotes  a  sentence 
or  two  of  sound  truth  from  a  very  bad  book  he 
endorses  the  book  itself. 

Some  persons  who  condemn  ordinary  theatrical 
amusements  show  favour  to  the  opera,  as  a  means 
of  cultivating  a  refined  taste  for  music.  Others 
regard  all  dramatic  exhibitions  as  of  evil  tendency, 
and  attendance  upon  them  as  inconsistent  with 
Christian  character  or  high  moral  principle.  With- 
out entering  into  an  analysis  of  the  arguments  by 
which  the  advocates  and  opposers  of  theatrical 
or-  operatic  amusements  maintain  their  respective 
views,  it  will  answer  my  present  purpose  to 
suggest  a  rule  by  which  a  conscientious  person 
may  determine  the  lawfulness  or  expediency  of 
a  proposed  amusement.  Many  things  lawful  in 
themselves  are  interdicted  because  of  their  in- 
expediency. The  professed  follower  of  Christ 
occupies  a  peculiar  position  and  recognises  peculiar 
laws.  What  may  be  lawful  for  others  is  unlawful 
for  him.  The  philosopher  who  is  absorbed  in 
investigating  the  laws  of  nature  is  not  diverted 
by  a  boy's  top  or  bag  of  marbles ;  nor  is  the  boy 
attracted   by   the   library   or   apparatus    of    the 


A    SAFE    RULE.  305 

philosopher.  The  former  never  inquires  if  he 
may  not  spin  a  top  just  once  or  play  just  one  game 
of  marbles,  and  still  retain  his  standing  among 
philosophers ;  nor  does  the  latter  long  for  a  peep 
at  the  books  or  a  part  in  the  analysis,  if  he  could 
have  it  without  losing  caste  among  school-boys. 
So  the  craving  which  a  worldly  mind  feels  for 
worldly  amusements,  in  whatever  sense  the  term 
is  used,  is  not  felt  by  the  soul- that  has  taken 
Christ  for  its  portion.  Its  presence  would  of 
itself  betoken  a  deceived  heart.  A  modest 
woman  never  asks  to  have  the  boundaries  of 
propriety  exactly  prescribed.  She  instinctively 
shrinks  from  an  equivocal  act,  and  leaves  an 
almost  limitless  margin  for  those  who  merely 
mean — not  to  transgress. 

My  rule,  then,  would  be,  when  your  attendance 
is  asked  at  a  place  or  scene  of  public  amusement, 
the  propriety  of  which,  in  your  own  judgment  or 
in  that  of  any  judicious  friend,  is  at  all  doubtful, 
the  safer  course  is  to  abstain.  It  may,  in  any 
event,  do  you  harm  to  go.  It  certainly  can  do  you 
none  to  stay  away ;  for  I  presume  there  is  no  amuse- 
ment so  indispensable  to  happiness  that  to  forego 
it  would  cost  more  than  a  momentary  self-denial. 

U  26* 


306  PRINCIPLE    APPLIED. 

The  conclusion  to  which  we  are  brought,  on  this 
point,  is  that  to  one  who  professes  not  to  be  her 
own,  but  to  have  voluntarily  surrendered  herself, 
soul  and  body,  to  the  service  and  glory  of  her 
'  Creator,  worldly  amusements  in  themselves  con- 
sidered must  be  altogether  so  distasteful  as  to 
make  any  prohibition  of  them  superfluous.  Know- 
ing that  the  fashion  of  the  world  passes  away,  she 
lives  above  it  while  she  lives  in  it,  and  uses  it  as 
not  abusing  it. 

The  same  general  principle  applies  to  the 
positive  precepts  of  our  holy  religion.  The 
desire  of  the  new-born  soul  is  not  to  relax 
or  escape  from  the  restrictions  and  obligations 
to  which  its  spiritual  birth  introduces  it.  The 
dutiful  and  affectionate  child  does  not  ask  how 
little  she  can  do  to  testify  her  love  and  gratitude 
to  a  faithful  and  loving  father  or  mother.  Let 
us  apply  this  principle. 

In  the  whole  economy  of  divine  benevolence, 
affecting  the  condition  of  a  human  being  in  this 
world,  there  is  scarcely  a  feature  of  more  interest 
than  the  institution  of  a  day  of  rest.  We  need 
not  trouble  ourselves  with  any  elaborate  inquiry 
into  the  time  or  manner  of  its  inauguration,  or  in 


PRINCIPLE    APPLIED.  307 

what  way  or  to  what  extent  it  is  connected  with 
the  Jewish  Sabbath,  nor  how  far  the  mode  of 
observing  it  is  prescribed  or  indicated  by  scrip- 
tural authority.  Here  we  are  in  a  Christian 
land,  and  here  is  an  ordinance  claiming  a  divine 
origin  and  sanctioned  by  the  laws  and  usages  of 
Christian  society.  It  requires  us  at  intervals  of 
six  days  to  separate  ourselves  as  far  as  practicable 
from  the  ordinary  cares  and  employments  of  our 
daily  life, — "  the  things  seen  and  temporal," — and 
give  a  few  hours  more  exclusively  to  the  interests 
of  the  soul, — "  the  things  unseen  and  eternal." 

A  false  view  of  the  character  and  design  of 
the  Christian  day  of  rest  is  sometimes  given  by 
those  who  are  most  earnest  and  conscientious  in 
urging  its  observance.  It  is  inconsistent  with 
any  just  or  intelligent  conceptions  of  the  divine 
character  to  suppose  that  such  an  appointment 
is  not  eminently  adapted  to  the  well-being  and 
happiness  of  the  world.  "The  Sabbath  was 
MADE  FOR  MAN," — not  for  Pagan  «r  Mohammedan, 
Jew  or  Christian,  but  for  man, — for  man  as  a  mortal 
and  immortal  creature  and  a  subject  of  God's  govern- 
ment. That  such  an  appointment  is  coeval  with 
the  race,  is  as  capable  of  demonstration  as  any 


308  PRINCIPLE    APPLIED. 

other  historical  fact.  The  lofty  and  indestructible 
monuments  of  its  existence  and  observance  stand 
out  in  all  the  annals  of  intervening  ages ;  and  one 
might  as  well  deny  that  the  sun  was  one  thing  in 
the  days  of  Abraham,  Isaiah  and  Christ,  and 
another  now,  as  that  the  day  of  sacred  rest  which 
we  enjoy  was  not  substantially  the  same  with 
that  which  awakened  the  sweetest  tones  of 

"  David's  harp  of  solemn  sound." 

A  moment's  reflection  must  satisfy  you  that, 
apart  from  any  requirements  of  the  divine  law, 
it  is  a  most  wholesome  and  needful  respite  from 
the  whirl  and  bustle  of  ordinary  hfe  which  the 
observance  of  such  a  rest  every  seventh  day 
affords.  The  provision  required  for  our  bodily 
health  and  sustenance, — the  constant  solicitation 
of  our  thoughts  and  sympathies  by  the  things  of 
time  and  sense, — the  strong  disinclination  (perhaps 
we  may  say  aversion)  of  most  minds  to  give  heed 
to  the  interests  of  the  remote  and  obscure  future, 
— are  such,  that,  even  with  this  periodical  suspen- 
sion of  earthly  cares,  it  is  not  easy  to  stem  the 
tide  of  worldliness  and  give  even  a  few  hours  to 
the  contemplation   of  the    soul's   better   portion. 


THE    DAY    OF    REST.  309 

Hence,  instead  of  arguments  being  required  to 
enforce  the  obligation  to  observe  the  Lord's  day, 
one  would  think  any  attempt  to  abridge  or  abolish 
it  would  be  resisted  as  an  assault  upon  liberty  or 
Hfe. 

To  make  such  a  privilege  available,  it  is  clear 
that  the  observance  must  be  general.  Were 
different  portions  of  time  appropriated  .to  this 
purpose,  the  affairs  of  life  would  be  deranged. 
You  have  probably  seen  places  of  business,  oc- 
cupied by  Jews,  closed  on  Saturday,  or  the  seventh 
day  of  the  week;  and  if  others  selected  the 
second,  or  sixth,  it  would  virtually  leave  us  with- 
out either  a  day  of  rest  or  days  of  business  :  so 
that,  to  give  us  any  advantage  from  such  a  season, 
it  must  be  generally  observed  by  all  classes. 

It  is  not  my  purpose  to  discuss  the  arguments 
for  the  divine  authority  of  the  Lord's  day,  or  the 
various  questions  which  have  been  debated  (some- 
times with  more  heat  than  force  or  judgment)  as 
to  what  is  lawful  or  unlawful  on  that  day.     Of 

■A 

one  thing  you  may  be  assured.  Those  who  treat 
the  day  with  neglect  or  contempt,  or  ridicule  the 
religious  observance  of  it,  seldom  jDrofess  or  feel 
much  reverence  for  any  other  institution  of  re- 


310  TkE    DAY   OF    KEST. 

ligion.  Those  who  have  no  sympathy  with  an 
ordinance  so  obviously  designed  to  bring  man  into 
communion  with  his  Maker  are  not  hkely  to 
desire  a  knowledge  of  his  ways  through  any 
other  medium. 

How  shall  this  holy  time  be  spent  in  order  to 
derive  the  greatest  advantage  from  it?  is  an 
inquiry  I  have  often  heard  from  my  young 
friends,  but  which  it  is  not  possible  to  answer 
satisfactorily  in  general  terms.  So  much  depends 
on  the  circumstances  and  associations  of  each 
individual;  on  age,  health,  temperament  and  oppor- 
tunity, that  no  uniform  method  can  be  prescribed. 

Let  it  never  be  forgotten  that  the  Sabbath  is  no 
"  day  of  wearisome  forms,  of  gloomy  bondage  and 
austere  observance,  of  hfeless,  monotonous  worship, 
of  listless,  irksome  vacancy,  but  one  instinct  with 
peace,  with  life  and  with  hopefulness,  spent  not 
in  painfully  seeking  a  half-unknown  God,  but 
enjoying  anrf  conversing  with  a  Saviour,  known, 
trusted  in  and  found  faithful." 

In  the  reverent  reading  of  Holy  Scripture ;  the 
lifting  up  of  the  desires  to  God  and  heaven,  the 
habitation  of  his  holiness ;  in  meditation  upon  the 
providence   and   grace    of   God;   in    the    careful 


THE    DAY   OF    REST.  311 

review  of  the  way  already  trod,  and  earnest 
supplication  for  light  and  strength  to  pursue 
life's  journey ;  in  devout  attendance  upon  pubhc 
worship;  in  such  offices  of  charity  and  benevolence 
as  can  be  consistently  performed;  and,  above  all, 
in  holy  meditation  upon  the  glorious  work  of 
human  redemption  by  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  of 
whose  resurrection  from  the  dead  the  day  is 
chiefly  commemorative, — you  will  find  abundant 
and  grateful  employment  for  every  hour  of  sacred 
time. 

I  hope  you  will  never  be  betrayed  into  the 
delusion  that  the  religious  observance  of  the 
Lord's  day  has  no  scriptural  warrant.*  But,  even 
if  it  had  not,  its  indispensableness  to  the  physical 
and  moral  welfare  of  om^  world  entitles  it  to  aU 
the  reverence  and  regard  which  its  warmest 
friends  claim  for  it.  In  an  age  of  great  entei'- 
prise  and  activity  like  our's,  it  is  difficult  to  sit 
down  quietly  and  say,  imperatively, — 

*  Those  who  deny  such  authority  would  find  it  difficult  to 
explain  the  language  «f  St.  John  the  divine,  "  I  was  in  the 
Spirit  on  the  Lord's  day,"  (Rev.  i.  10,)  without  admitting  that 
a  day  was  recognised  by  the  apostles,  after  the  ascension  of  our 
Saviour,  as  the  Lord's ;  and  it  is  for  them  to  show  when  or  by 
whom  it  has  been  abolished. 


312  THE    DAY   OP    REST. 

/ 
"  Be  earth,  with  all  her  scenes,  withdrawn ; 
Let  noise  and  vanity  begone  ; 
In  secret  silence  of  the  mind 
My  heaven,  and  there  my  God,  I  find/^ 

Intense  woiidliness  is  a  characteristic  of  our 
country  and  times.  Even  our  modes  of  stimu- 
lating a  religious  life  partake  somewhat  of  it.  In 
former  times  the  Bible,  or  hooks  of  devotion  and 
religious  instruction,  furnished  the  chief  occupation 
for  these  sacred  hours.  But  in  latter  days  the 
rehgious  newspaper,  and  not  unfrequently  the 
religious  story  or  the  journal  of  missionary  ad- 
venture, have  presented  themselves  and  found 
general  favour.  It  is  believed  that  by  far  the 
larger  part  of  the  Sunday  reading  in  the  United 
States,  at  this  day,  is  given  to  newspapers  and 
magazines.  Even  the  paper  published  and  sold 
on  Sunday  has  a  sprinkling  of  religious  reading 
to  hallow  it  in  the  eyes  of  fastidious  consciences ; 
and  few  of  the  so-called  rehgious  newspapers 
would  venture  to  claim  pubhc  patronage  without 
a  considerable  infusion  of  mere  secular  matter. 
"  So  they  twist  them  together."* 

It  is  to  be  feared  that  much  of  the  levity  with 

*  Micah  vii.  3,  Marg.  readmg. 


THE    DAY   OF    REST.  313 

which  the  obligations  of  the  Sabbath  are  regarded 
at  the  present  time  may  be  traced  to  this  source. 
The  farmer,  whose  mind  for  the  previous  six  days 
has  been  intent  on  his  fields  and  flocks,  opens  his 
rehgious  paper  on  Sunday,  and  his  eye  is  arrested 
by  a  description  of  some  new  implement  of  hus- 
bandry or  new  method  of  cultivation, — ^illustrated, 
perhaps,  by  an  engraving.  Is  he  likely  to  turn 
to  an  essay  on  faith  or  a  new  interpretation  of  a 
disputed  passage  of  Scripture  on  the  next  page, 
because  it  is  Sunday  ?  It  is  not  prudent  to  tempt 
even  a  religious  business  man  by  putting  the  latest 
foreign  news  or  price-current  before  his  eyes  in 
staring  capitals  on  the  third  page,  and  expect  him 
to  postpone  reading  it  till  the  next  morning  and 
give  his  present  thoughts  to  an  essay  on  the 
vanity  of  worldly  things  which  he  will  find  over 
the  leaf,  because  it  is  Sunday.  I  do  not  allude  to 
this  point  to  condemn  religious  newspapers.  My 
object  is  answered  if  I  put  you  on  your  guard 
against  any  reading  on  that  day,  whether  book, 
pamphlet  or  newspaper,  which  you  have  not  good 
reason   to   believe   will    "increase   in    you  true 


religion. 


27 


314  BOOKS. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

Books  and  y-eading — A  case — histinctive  precautions — Agency  of 
the  press  in  subverting  truth — The  mode  of  operation — Power  of 
words  as  signs  of  ideas. 

When  we  were  discussing  the  subject  of  proper 
reading  for  the  Lord's  day,  I  intended  to  say  a 
word  to  you  on  the  subject  of  books  and  reading 
in  general.  In  no  former  period  of  the  world 
have  such  facilities  existed  for  the  diffusion  of 
knowledge  by  means  of  the  press  as  now ;  and  it 
would  be  contrary  to  all  the  experience  of  man- 
kind from  the  beginning,  if  the  powers  of  dark- 
ness were  nofbusy  to  avail  themselves  of  them  for 
purposes  of  evil.  If  two  streams  were  running 
in  different  channels  side  by  side,  one  of  which 
was  turbid  and  poisonous  and  the  other  pure  and 
wholesome,  the  thirsty  traveller,  with  his  eyes 
open,  could  readily  discern  that  there  was  a 
difference  between  them  without  tasting.  But  if 
they  were  flowing  on  together  in  the  same  channel, 
and  the  healthful  and  baneful  currents  could  only 


BOOKS.  315 

be  distinguished  by  great  care  and  close  examina- 
tion, or  even  chemical  analysis,  he  might  well  thank 
any  one  that  should  fenish  him  with  a  test. 

Books  have  a  prodigious  power.  I  had  a 
young  friend  once  whose  early  years  were  passed 
under  decided  rehgious  influences.  He  was  en- 
dowed with  unusual  strength  of  mind,  and  at  a 
very  early  period  of  his  life  became  distinguished 
as  a  pubhc  man.  Few  memorials  in  the  quiet 
seclusion  of  Mount  Auburn  mark  the  resting-place 
of  one  more  respected  for  learning  and  integrity. 
He  had  been  an  observer  of  the  devoted  piety 
and  triumphant  death  of  Christian  friends,  whose 
hope  of  salvation  had  no  basis  but  the  blood  and 
righteousness  of  Christ ;  and  his  own  views  until 
he  reached  maturity  were  settled  (at  least  spe- 
culatively) upon  the  same  foundation.  But  a 
printed  sermon,  by  a  distinguished  preacher  of 
a  radically  different  faith,  was  put  into  his  hands, 
and,  with  the  help  of  peculiar  personal  associa- 
tions, changed  at  once  the  whole  current  of  his 
views,  and  persuaded  him  to  adopt  a  system  of 
behef  in  which  Christ  and  his  cross  occupy  a 
very  subordinate  place,  if  recognised  at  all.  I  do 
not  cite  this  case  to  encourage  a  blind  adherence 


316  BOOKS. 

to  one  set  of  opinions,  however  hoary  with  age  or 
fortified  by  venerable  names  or  by  the  authority 
of  powerful  sects,  but  to  illustrate  the  influence 
of  a  book  over  a  strong  mind  and  long-settled 
convictions. 

If  we  could  trace  the  means  which  have  con- 
tributed to  form  our  present  views  to  three  prin- 
cipal external  sources,  viz.,  what  we  have  seeuy 
what  we  have  heard  and  what  we  have  read,  we 
should  probably  find  the  last  by  no  means  the 
least  active  or  fertile.  A  book  is  a  silent,  but 
most  intimate,  companion.  It  does  not  ask  atten- 
tion, nor  take  offence  at  neglect.  Its  name  and 
dress  give  us  no  certain  clew  to  its  character. 
The  opinions  of  others  as  to  its  value  may  be  the 
result  of  prejudice  or  ignorance.  We  are  told 
that  to  know  what  it  is  we  must  read  it ;  and  to 
read  it  is  to  subject  ourselves  to  its  influence  for 
better  or  worse. 

Prudent  travellers  in  public  conveyances,  or 
sojourners  at  hotels,  are  very  careful  what  inter- 
course they  encourage  or  allow  strangers  to  have 
with  them ;  for  a  pickpocket  is  not  always  dis- 
tinguishable by  dress  or  manners  from  an  honest 
gentleman.     But  how  much  more  vigilant  should 


BOOKS.  317 

we  be  to  preserve  the  mind  and  heart  from  con- 
tact with  what  may  pollute  or  pervert,  than  to 
protect  our  purse  or  watch  from  light  fingers  ! 

When  you  take  uj:  a  book  to  read,  of  the 
character  of  which  you  are  wholly  unapprized,  is 
your  presumption  less  than  when  you  admit  to 
your  confidence  one  to  whose  principles  and 
motives  you  are  a  stranger?  It  might,  indeed, 
be  easier  to  throw  the  book  aside  than  to  discard 
the  treacherous  friend ;  but,  on  the  other  hand, 
the  former  may  conceal  the  poisonous  fang  till  the 
fatal  wound  is  made,  while  the  latter,  by  his  tone 
and  manner,  will  be  very  hkely  to  betray  his 
character  in  season  to  defeat  his  evil  purpose. 

The  art  of  introducing  false  or  equivocal  prin- 
ciples into  the  public  lecture,  the  newspaper  para- 
graph, or  the  book,  in  company  with  incontrovert- 
ible truths,  has  been  brought  to  great  perfection 
in  our  day.  It  is  not  always  (pei^haps  not  gene- 
rally) an  intentional  fraud  upon  the  hearer  or 
reader.  The  author's  or  lecturer's  mind  may  have 
been  perverted,  or  truth  and  error  may  be  so  un- 
certainly apprehended  as  to  be  mistaken  one  for 
the  other.     But,  however  ample  such  an  apology 

27* 


318  BOOKS. 

may  be  for  writing  a  bad  book,  it  does  not  cover 
our  imprudence  (not  to  say  folly)  in  reading  it. 

Magazines,  pamphlets  and  newspapers  are  the 
sluices  through  which  every  production  of  the 
human  brain  that  can  be  shaped  in  type-metal 
passes  into  the  reading  world;  and  there  is  no 
principle  so  corrupt,  no  sentiment  so  false,  no 
ribaldry  so  base  and  no  jest  so  profane  or  obscene 
as  to  be  denied  an  imprint. 

And,  what  is  particularly  to  be  noted,  the 
brightest  wit  and  the  most  sparkling  populai 
style  are  found  in  close  alliance  with  some  of 
the  grossest  forms  of  error.  If  marriage — th( 
most  sacred  of  all  human  relations,  on  which  the 
chief  interests  of  civilization  and  social  virtue  and 
progress  rest,  and  to  which  your  sex  owes  iU 
elevation  above  the  condition  of  abject  slaves — 
if  marriage  is  to  be  assailed  as  a  factitious  rite, 
to  be  modified  or  entirely  dispensed  with  as  the 
parties  concerned  may  choose,  some  ghb  romancer 
is  at  hand  to  prepare  a  flashy  tale  or  magazine 
story,  in  which  the  sacred  bond  which  the  hand 
of  God  hath  woven  is  rejected  as  a  superfluous 
obligation  or  an  impertinent  imposition  on  natural 
liberty ;  and  a  hundred  thousand  copies  are  afloat 


BOOKS.  319 

in  a  week,  and  largely  in  the  hands  of  those  who 
are  least  on  their  guard  and  most  easily  deluded 
by  meretricious  reasoning. 

Direct  and  open  assaults  on  the  Christian  faith 
are  rare  in  our  day.  Its  principles  commend 
themselves  so  generally  to  the  wise  and  good, 
and  are  so  obviously  necessary  to  the  well-being 
of  society,  that  it  requires  no  little  boldness  to 
impugn  them;  and,  besides,  there  is  a  way  of 
sapping  their  foundations  which  has  become  quite 
common,  and,  while  it  is  much  more  effective, 
it  excites  no  odium  and  very  little  resistance. 

Those  who  are  not  aware  of  the  protean  shapes 
assumed  by  these  subtle  siipplanters  of  our  faith 
are  very  likely  to  find  themselves  in  the  midst  of 
a  plausible  argument  against  some  cardinal  doctrine 
of  the  Bible  before  they  suspect  their  proximity 
to  danger. 

A  popular  story  is  advertised,  we  will  suppose, 
under  the  title  of  "  The  Forest  of  Glenburne :  a 
Tale  of  the  Eeformation."  It  is  "  puffed"  into  pub- 
lic notice, — as  any  thing  may  be  by  sufficient  effort, 
— and  is  soon  making  its  impression  on  thousands 
of  minds.  It  is  written  with  signal  ability.  A  vein 
of  historical  truth  runs  through  it,  and  the  incidents 


320  BOOKS. 

are   selected   and  wrought   into   the   story  with 
consummate  skill  and  tact^  giving  it  all  the  vivid- 
ness of  a  present  reality.     The  principal  parties 
neither  say  nor  do  what  is  not  perfectly  proper 
and  orthodox.    We  are  enchanted  by  their  purity, 
love  of  truth,  intelligence,  charity  and  social  vir- 
tues.    A  conversation  springs  up  between  them 
respecting  a  notable  church-dignitary  named  Cran- 
mer.     Some    of  his    acts    and    opinions    are    the 
theme  of  much  public  discussion  and  controversy; 
and  it  is  quite  natural  that  the    subject  should 
be  introduced  into  private  circles.     K  Archbishop 
Cranmer  is  an   intelligent,   sensible,  godly  man, 
competent  to  decide  questions  of  faith  and  duty, 
— if  he  conscientiously  abides  by  the  truth  when 
error  is  in  the  ascendant,  and  encounters  the  ter- 
rors of  persecution  and  death  with  a  stout  heart 
and  steady  faith, — his  example  and  authority  will 
be  of  great  weight.     His  rebuke  of  the  mummeries 
and  superstitions  of  a  corrupt  rehgion  will  be  felt ; 
and  neither  arts,  arguments  nor  threats  will  avail 
against  the  poAver  of  truth  so  illustriously  vindicated 
— even  at  the  stake. 

But  now  suppose  we  put  in  array  the  attrac- 
tions which  Popery  presents  to  the  corrupt  hearts 


BOOKS.  321 

of  men;  its  claims  to  exclusive  authority  and 
infallibility ;  the  imposing  ceremonies  of  its  ritual ; 
its  appeals  to  sense  rather  than  to  faith ;  and  the 
coincidence  of  its  whole  genius  and  spirit  with 
the  gross  conceptions  of  ignorance  and  supersti- 
tion ;  and  suppose,  further,  that  one  of  the  intel- 
ligent and  interesting  parties  to  whom  we  just 
now  referred  is  disposed  to  think  well  of  Popery, 
and  would  fain  bring  his  fair  companion  to  embrace 
his  views.  •  To  further  his  object,  the  good  old 
Archbishop  Cranmer  is  brought  forward,  and, 
though  treated  with  great  deference  as  one  of  the 
lights  of  the  church  and  a  pillar  of  the  Reformed 
faith,  yet  arguments  and  opinions  are  put  into  his 
lips  which  are  too  shallow  for  a  school-boy  to  use. 
The  effects  are  what  might  be  anticipated.  '^  If 
the  defences  of  the  new  faith  are  so  weak  as  all 
that,"  says  the  too  willing  convert, — "if  that  is 
all  such  a  great  and  good  man  can  make  of  them, 
— ^it  will  certainly  be  safer  for  me  to  embrace  that 
which  claims  to  be  primitive  and  infallible  f — and 
the  crucifix  and  beads  are  eagerly  grasped. 

Or,  perhaps  certain  religious  doctrines  are  in 
vogue  which  are  not  relished  by  persons  of  taste  and 
independent  opinion.     Opposers  make  little  or  no 

V 


322  BOOKS. 

head  against  them  by  the  ordinsiry  methods  of 
evidence  and  argument ;  and  so  they  betake  them- 
selves to  stratagem.  They  frame  or  exhume  a 
system  which  in  some  of  its  features  resembles 
that  which  is  so  obnoxious ;  and,  running  back  to 
the  time  when  such  a  system  had  supporters  here 
and  there,  a  story  is  invented,  and  its  incidents 
and  characters  so  arranged  as  to  bring  into  dis- 
cussion the  offensive  creed.  The  tale  will  be 
wrought  up  with  surpassing  skill.  A  clergyman 
Avill  be  introduced  who  espouses  and  promulgates 
the  odious  doctrines.  A  disciple  of  his  will  be 
another  leading  person  in  the  drama,  and  perhaps  a 
rare  specimen  of  credulity  and  bigotry.  Other 
parties  will  appear,  of  the  most  amiable  and  at- 
tractive character.  They  shrink  from  the  harsh 
doctrinal  views  of  the  preacher.  They  take 
brighter  views  of  religion,  and  are  made  to 
exhibit  all  the  loveliness  and  gentleness  and 
benevolence  which  are  supposed  to  be  the  fruits 
of  a  true  faith.  The  contrast  is  very  effective; 
and  the  reader  gladly  turns  away  frdm  the  cold, 
stern  severity  of  what  passed  for  orthodoxy,  as 
from  a  frightful  dream.  The  next  sermon  he 
hears  will   perhaps   bring   to  view  some  leading 


BOOKS.  323 

truth  of  Scripture  so  nearly  allied  in  substance, 
if  not  in  form,  to  what  he  has  seen  so  odiously 
depicted  in  the  romance  of  a  past  generation,  that 
he  is  shocked,  and  hastens  to  some  place  where 
his  new  taste  will  not  be  offended. 

Or  suppose,  again,  the  purpose  is  to  bring  into 
contempt  evangelical  religion,  and  its  ministers 
and  disciples,  in  a  more  general  way.  Then  the 
story  is  framed  to  present  in  contrast,  (not  so 
boldly  as  to  awaken  suspicion,)  on  one  side  a  cha- 
racter genial,  generous,  companionable,  and  free 
from  all  offensive  traits  that  worldly  people  are 
quick  to  detect  and  condemn,  and  on  the  other 
a  professor,  and  perhaps  public  teacher,  of  re- 
ligion, thrusting  himself  and  his  favourite  topics, 
out  of  season  quite  as  often  as  in  season,  into  all 
places  and  companies,  and  exhibiting  in  his  tem- 
per and  manners  any  thing  but  the  gentleness  and 
suavity  and  punctilious  regard  to  the  proprieties 
of  life,  such  as  religion  enjoins  with  much  more 
consistency  and  ai^thority  than  the  customs  of 
society. 

Interviews  occur  in  which  questions  of  duty  or 
consistency  are  discussed,  and  the  "parson,"  or 
the  "deacon,"  or  the  other  "well-meaning  man"  is 


324  BOOKS. 

made  to  propound  and  defend  the  most  ultra 
views  in  such  terms,  in  such  a  tone  of  voice,  and 
with  such  weak  arguments  as  a  lively  imagination 
may  conceive  to  be  most  provocative  of  contempt 
and  disgust.  If  the  tale  is  well  wrought,  the 
reader  is  scarcely  conscious  of  its  being  other 
than  a  veritable  report  of  something  which  actually 
occurred,  instead  of  being  a  gross  caricature.  The 
rehgious  opinions  of  some  of  the  most  learned  and 
godly  men  that  appear  in  the  annals  of  the  Chris- 
tian church  have  been  thus  presented  in  some 
fictitious  tale, — first  misrepresented  and  distorted, 
and  then  made  responsible  for  inferences  and  con- 
clusions which  shock  common  sense  and  expose 
those  to  whom  they  are  imputed  to  pity  or 
contempt. 

In  the  graver  class  of  books — as  histories  and 
biographies — similar  insidious  attempts  to  subvert 
sound  principles,  implanted  by  a  careful  education, 
are  by  no  means  rare.  But  the  more  common 
theatre  for  the  display  of  such  skill  is,  as  we  have 
said,  the  lighter  and  cheaper  literature  which  finds 
its  way  into  the  hands  of  all  classes  and  com- 
munities. Cart-loads  of  printed  trash,  decked 
out  with  coarse  cuts  and  "plates  of  fashion,"  are 


BOOKS.  325 

in  constant  transit  over  the  thoroughfares  of  the 
country;  and  though  you  may  be  protected  by 
your  social  position  from  direct  contact  with  them, 
you  can  scarcely  fail  to  feel  their  incidental  in- 
fluence in  the  general  deterioration  of  moral  senti- 
ment and  intellectual  vigour  which  they  are  sure^ 
to  produce.  So  rapid  is  the  accumulation  of  printed 
matter,  good  and  bad,  that  but  a  small  portion  of 
it  can  be  read  even  by  those  who  have  no  other 
occupation.  Some  selection  is,  therefore,  indis- 
pensable, and  in  making  it  you  should  have  re- 
ference to  the  cultivation  of  taste,  the  improve- 
ment of  the  mind,  a  proper  famiharity  with  the 
current  topics  of  interest,  but  most  of  all  to  the 
establishment  or  confirmation  of  right  moral  and 
religious  principles. 

The  authorship  or  imprint  of  a  volume  has 
long  since  ceased  to  be  any  certain  guarantee  of 
its  character.  Doctors  of  divinity  in  high  repute 
among  those  who  are  regarded  as  ^vangehcal 
avow  and  defend  doctrines  and  principles  that  are 
entirely  irreconcilable  with  the  received  systems  of 
our  Protestant  faith.  Works  of  science  are  deeply 
impregnated  with  the  poison  of  atheism;  magazines 
and  newspapers,  by  incidental,  but  not   less  in- 

28 


326  BOOKS. 

effectual^  thrusts  at  our  holy  religion,  succeed  in 
diverting  large  numbers  from  the  contemplation 
of  it^  and  in  imbuing  others  with  prejudices  and 
false  views  which  are  perhaps  never  fully  re- 
moved. Hence  you  will  not  wonder  that  your 
Christian  friends  should  feel  some  anxiety  to 
forewarn  and  forearm  you  on  this  subject. 

There  will  be  no  difficulty  in  finding  as  much 
reading  as^  you  desire,  both  secular  and  religious, 
outside  of  all  obnoxious  or  equivocal  productions. 
You  will  have  neither  time  nor  inclination  to  in- 
vestigate questions  of  speculative  theology;  and 
as  to  the  teachings  of  Holy  Scripture,  few  re- 
ligiously disposed  people,  at  the  present  day, 
would  insist  on  a  higher,  or  be  satisfied  with  a 
lower,  standard  of  orthodoxy  than  is  found  in 
Hannah  More's  writings. 

If  you  should  decline  to  read  a  book  or  periodi- 
cal which  a  friend  commends  to  you  on  the  ground 
that  you  stand  in  doubt  of  the  author's  views,  or 
that  you  do  not  wish  to  read  any  thing  which 
advocates  what  you  regard  as  error,  you  will 
perhaps  be  at  once  rebuked  for  a  course  so  narrow 
and  illiberal.  How  will  you  ever  know  what  truth 
is,  it  will  be  said,  unless  you  examine  it  in  con 


BOOKS.  327 

trast  with  error  ?  A  pretty  judge,  indeed !  To 
make  up  your  mind  upon  hearing  one  side !  You 
set  down  all  who  differ  from  you  as  errorists. 
To  be  right,  they  must  embrace  your  opinions; 
while  you  withdraw  yourself  into  the  shell  of 
your  infallibility  and  refuse  to  examine  the 
grounds  on  which  they,  rest  then-  convictions ! 

There  is  something  very  plausible  in  this  appeal. 
There  is  an  appearance  of  bigotry  or  pusillanimity 
in  declining  a  challenge  to  investigate  the  grounds  of 
another's  convictions.  And  yet  it  is  eminently  un- 
just Two  men  are  about  to  engage  in  business. 
One  decides  to  embark  in  manufacturing  cotton 
goods,  and  the  other  betakes  himself  to  mining 
coal.  They  have  severally  considered  the  pro- 
babilities of  success,  and  each  has  acted  upon  his 
own  convictions.  It  would  be  no  evidence  of 
narrowness  or  illiberality  of  vicAvs  if  the  manu- 
facturer should  decline  to  go  into  argument  with 
the  miner  upon  the  comparative  eligibihty  of  the 
two  pursuits.  All  his  thoughts  and  energies  must 
be  bent  to  the  prosecution  of  his  own  business. 
To  spend  his  time  in  reading  or  hearing  argu- 
ments to  unsettle  his  confidence  in  it,  would  be 
only  to  insure  his  failure.     If  each  has  used  all 


328  BOOKS. 

proper  and  available  means  to  obtain  information, 
and  has  then  embarked  heartily  and  energetically 
in  the  chosen  enterprise,  their  success  depends  upon 
turning  the  eye  and  ear  away  from  all  diverting 
sights  and  sounds.  BHnd  men  who  think  they  see 
are  very  unsafe  guides  for  those  who  are  conscious 
that  they  are  blind.  Why  should  one  who  has  been 
convinced,  upon  evidence  satisfactory  to  himself, 
that  as  a  descendant  of  apostate  Adam  his  nature  is 
unholy ;  that  his  violations  of  the  divine  law  have 
made  him  obnoxious  to  its  terrible  penalty ;  that 
provision  is  made  in  the  gospel  for  the  pardon  of 
his  sin  and  the  remission  of  deserved  punishment* 
that  by  faith  in  Christ  and  repentance  towards 
God  he  may  obtain  eternal  life ;  and  that  faith  and 
repentance  are  gifts  of  God,  freely  bestowed  in 
answer  to  prayer, — why  should  such  a  one 
willingly  read  a  book  or  hear  a  sermon  or  lecture 
in  which  these  convictions  are  assailed  ?  Why 
demolish  a  house  built  with  so  much  care  and 
on  w^hat  appeared  to  be  a  rock,  in  order  to  try 
some  other  foundation  which  cannot  possibly  be 
so  safe  ?  Why  leave  a  good  harbour  and  put  out 
into  a  stormy  sea,  upon  a  vague  suggestion  that 
as  safe  anchorage  may  be  found  somewhere  else  ? 


BOOKS   AND    READING.  329 

Would  a  dutiful  child  willingly  read  or  hear  an 
argument  against  the  obligation  of  the  fifth  com- 
mandment ?  Would  a  trustworthy  and  contented 
labourer  patiently  listen  to  evidence  that  his 
employer  is  a  tyi^ant  or  a  fool?  To  show  the 
drift  of  these  questions,  I  may  say  that  if  I  were 
asked  to  read  a  treatise  advocating  the  doctrine 
of  universal  salvation,  I  should  courteously  but 
peremptorily  decline,  on  the  ground  that  my 
views  on  that  subject  were  well  settled  from  such 
an  examination  of  the  Sacred  Scriptures  as  I  had 
been  able  to  give,  and  that  I  had  no  desire  to 
know  how  much  could  be  said  in  support  of  some 
other  theory,  so  long  as  I  was  entirely  satisfied  of 
the  truth  of  the  one  I  had  embraced. 

^'  But,"  says  my  friend,  "  you  want  me  to  adopt 
l/oiir  views ;  and  to  this  end  you  ask  me  to  read 
?/oiir  books  and  tracts ;  and  yet  you  decline  to  hear 
or  examine  what  may  be  said  in  support  of  my- 
doctrine."  By  no  means.  If,  after  proper  inquiry 
and  investigation,  you  are  convinced  that  my 
views  of  this  subject  are  not  in  accordance  with 
divine  revelation,  but  that  yours  are,  you  should 
resist  every  attempt  I  may  make  to  persuade  you  to 

28* 


330  BOOKS   AND    READING. 

renounce  or   modify  them,  and  should  cleave  to 
your  own  couAdctions  with  invincible  pertinacity. 

While  on  this  subject,  it  may  be  proper  to 
advert  for  a  moment  to  a  common  idea,  that 
evangehcal  truth  would  be  more  welcome  to  men 
if  it  were  expressed  in  more  courtly  and  agreeable 
terms.  It  is  said  that  expressions  which  are  well 
enough  in  themselves  become  offensive  by  their 
association  with  some  religious  sect,  or  school,  or 
system,  and  that  if  the  same  sentiment  were 
conveyed  in  other  terms  it  would  be  received 
with  favour,  or,  at  least,  without  repugnance. 
"You  need  not  be  concerned,"  said  a  clergyman 
of  some  distinction,  in  reply  to  a  friend's  expres- 
sion of  his  fear  that  the  distinctive  principles  of 
evangelical  religion  were  presented  with  more 
vagueness  than  formerly.  "You  need  not  be 
concerned.  The  substance  of  truth  is  preached 
as  boldly  as  ever;  but  the  phraseology  used  in 
stating  it  has  been  modified.  I  well  remember," 
he  continued,  "how  broadly  the  doctrine  of  the 
Trinity  used  to  be  expressed  in  words  needlessly 
revolting  to  the  minds  of  those  who  rejected  it. 
Now  it  is  stated  with  equal  distinctness,  but  in  a 
manner  which  divests    it  of  what   used  to  give 


BOOKS    AND    READING.  ooi 

offence.  So  of  the  doctrines  of  depravity,  the  new 
birth,  &C.5 — they  are  preached,  but  with  more 
philosophical  exactness  and  rhetorical  propriety; 
and  hence  the  more  intelligent  errorists  on  these 
subjects  are  gradually  renouncing  their  views  and 
are  (perhaps  insensibly  to  themselves)  adopting 
orthodox  opinions." 

This  is  dangerous  ground  to  take.  Words  are 
signs  of  ideas,  but  very  imperfect  signs  at  best. 
It  may  be  affirmed  of  the  greatest  human  mind 
that  its  conceptions  of  truth  are  partial  and 
obscure ;  and  these  conceptions  clothed  in  the 
choicest  words  are  open  to  misapprehension  and 
misinterpretation.  To  modify  materially  phrases 
which  have  been  current  for  a  long  period  among 
the  various  denominations  of  Christians  as  an 
expression  of  leading  doctrines,  is  a  hazardous 
experiment.  And  it  is  also  quite  needless ;  for 
the  language  of  Holy  Scripture  is  amply  suffi- 
cient to  meet  all  our  wants  in  this  respect ;  and 
adherence  to  it  in  religious  discussions  would 
save  much  controversy.  There  is  no  vital  doc- 
trine of  Christianity  which  is  not  set  forth  as 
plainly  in  the  language  of  the  inspired  writer  as 
it  needs  to  be ;    and  it  cannot  be   doubted  that 


332  BOOKS    AND    READING. 

most  of  the  controversies  which  have  brought 
Christianity  into  discredit  with  a  certain  class  of 
minds  have  turned  upon  terms  and  phrases  in- 
vented by  men.  You  will  find  it  a  safe  rule,  in 
fxpressing  your  own  views,  to  adhere  as  closely 
t;;i  possible  to  "the  form  of  sound  words"  found 
en  the  pages  of  inspiration ;  and  when  those  who 
differ  from  you  assail  your  opinions  or  urge  thek 
own,  hold  them  kindly,  but  resolutely,  to  the  use 
of  words  "  which  the  Holy  Ghost  teacheth." 

It  cannot  be  too  deeply  impressed  upon  the 
mind  that  clear  convictions  of  duty  are  not  to  be 
trifled  with.  Many  persons  have  been  known  to 
me  whose  early  moral  instruction  was  not  neglected, 
and  who  had  been  well  disposed  towards  a  religious 
life.  But  upon  reaching  the  age  when  the  social 
circle  is  enlarged  and  the  influence  of  companions 
and  books  is  more  decided,  they  have  yielded  to  the 
temptation  to  break  from  early  restraints,  which  is 
often  very  powerful ;  and  one  of  its  first  forms  of 
approach  is  an  appeal  to  independence  of  thought 
and  a  renunciation  of  what  the  tempter  would  per- 
suade them  to  regard  as  musty  and  obsolete  formulas 
of  faith  imposed  upon  the  credulity  &f  childhood ! 

A  lady  of  my  acquaintance,  of  rare  personal 


BOOKS    AND    READING.  333 

attractions,  of  superior  intelligence,  occupying  a 
liigli  social  position  and  enjoying  great  advantages 
of  religious  and  literary  education,  came  to  mature 
age  with  a  well-balanced  mind  and  eminent  quali- 
fications for  great  usefulness.  By  some  means  she 
was  persuaded  to  distrust  the  grounds  of  her  faith, 
though  its  fruits  had  been  to  the  praise  of  God's 
grace.  Of  the  stages  of  her  progress  in  error  it  is 
not  in  my  power  to  speak  positively;  but  it 
terminated  in  a  rejection  of  the  distinctive  and 
vital  doctrines  of  revelation,  and  in  the  adoption 
of  some  of  the  most  flagrant  and  absurd  delusions 
of  modern  times.  From  her  own  experience,  she 
knew  the  power  of  early  associations ;  and  when 
she  desired  to  persuade  others  to  make  like  ship- 
wreck of  their  faith,  her  efforts  were  concentrated 
upon  this  stronghold. 

In  wanting  to  a  friend  considerably  her  senior, 
she  says,  "Don't  cling  to  old  ideas  because  you 
were  taught  to  believe  they  were  true.  Don't  be 
afraid  when  your  heart  begins  to  shed  its  coats. 
They  fall  off  like  the  leaves  of  autumn, — not 
because  the  tree  is  dying,  but  because  it  is 
gathering  its*  life-forces  up  in  order  to  renew  its 
foliage    in   sprmg."     Not   more   subtle   was   iha 


334  BOOKS   AND    READING. 

language  of  the  prince  of  darkness  to  the  first 
woman ;  nor  more  sure  was  he  of  his  victim,  than 
any  of  his  servants  may  be  who  can  obtain  a 
listening  ear  to  counsels  like  these. 

If  the  mind  has  been  furnished  and  the  heart 
impressed  with  the  great  doctrines  of  our  holy 
rehgion  by  the  lips  of  parents  or  teachers,  let  it 
be  a  subject  of  ceaseless  gratitude  to  our  heavenly 
Father.  It  is  a  formidable  barrier  against  the  in- 
cursions of  merciless  foes.  It  may  be  strengthened 
and  perpetuated  by  proper  care ;  but  the  slightest 
breach  will  expose  the  whole  fabric  to  weakness 
and  ultimate  ruin. 

You  Avill  not  understand  these  principles  as  im- 
posing any  restriction  on  freedom  of  inquiry  or 
of  conscience.  A  child  is  not  bound  to  believe  as 
his  parents  do,  nor  to  receive  their  opinions  as 
the  wax  takes  the  impression  of  the  seal.  But 
if  a  kind  Providence  has  given  you  the  privilege 
of  inteUigent,  godly  parents,  who  have  imparted 
to  you  the  knowledge  which  has  made  them  wise 
unto  salvation,  it  would  be  in  the  highest  degree 
presumptuous  to  break  these  bands  asunder  and 
cast  these  cords  from  you — in  order  to  show  your 
independence. 


BOOKS   AND    READING.  335 

The  late  distinguished  Rufus  Choate  once  said 
to  an  intimate  friend  that,  "  fortunately  for  him,  a 
certain  belief  had  been  implanted  in  his  mind  in 
childhood.  There  it  stood  unmoved.  And  he 
was  unwilling  to  listen  to  arguments  against  it, 
or  to  consider  the  question  as  open,  ^because,'  said 
he,  'I  dread  the  laceration  of  mind  which  must 
be  caused  by  rending  away  a  faith  once  deeply 
and  firmly  rooted ;'  and  he  quoted  from  Edmund 
Burke  a  passage  expressing  strongly  the  same 
sentiment." 

I  have  been  unconsciously  led  to  a  wider  range 
of  discussion  than  may  seem  to  be  included  in 
the  subject  of  books  and  reading ;  but  the  topics 
I  have  considered  are  so  intimately  connected, 
in  my  own  experience,  as  well  as  in  my  observa- 
tion of  the  inclinations  and  habits  of  my  young 
friends,  as  to  make  it  very  natural  to  treat  of 
them  together. 

There  are  enough  books  and  periodicals  to 
answer  all  the  purposes  to  which  I  have  re- 
ferred in  this  connection,  whose  authorship  or 
character  are  well  known  to  those  in  whose 
opinions  you  would  be  disposed  to  confide ;  and  I 
am  sure  your  safety  and  happiness  are  alike  con- 


336  THE    ROCK. 

cerned   in  eschewing  what  you  have   not  every 
reason  to  believe  would  have  their  approbation. 

From  the  most  unexceptionable  productions  of 
the  human  mind  you  may  turn  with  infinite  ad- 
vantage to  the  oracles  of  God.  In  those  you 
will  often  find  shifting  sands  and  treacherous  pit- 
falls ;  but  here  your  feet  are  planted  upon  a  rock 
against  which  the  floods  lift  up  their  waves  in 
vain. 


CAUTIONS.  337 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

Uses  of  life — Extremes — Ilie  Sunday-school — Public  charities — 
^'Orders" — One  thing — Perplexing  questions — Home — School- 
days— Spheres  of  duty — Little  seeds — The  work  and  its  pros 
pects — The  Rock. 

In  previous  interviews  I  have  attempted  to  sgt 
before  you  the  authority  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  the 
reasvonableness  of  the  doctrines  which  they  reveal, 
and  some  of  the  duties  which  they  enjoin  or 
which  grow  out  of  a  genuine  Christian  faith. 
Supposing  you  to  occupy  the  position  of  a  dis- 
ciple of  Christ  looking  abroad  upon  the  world, 
impressed  with  the  uncertainty  of  life  and  all  its 
plans,  an  I  desiring  to  use  your  acquirements  and 
influence  for  the  best  end,  there  are  two  or  thre« 
considerations  which  I  will  venture  to  suggest  as 
to  your  duty. 

1.  It  is  a  saying  attributed  to  Luther,  that  the 
human  mind  is  like  a  drunken  peasant  on  horse- 
back, who,  if  you  put  him  on  one  side,  is  sure  to 
fall  over  on  the  other.     There  is  danger  in  in- 


338  USES   OF    LIFE. 

dolence,  and  there  is  danger  also  in  activity. 
Piety  may  languish  and  decay  in  idle,  dreamy 
abstraction  or  sentimentalism ;  and,  on  the  other 
hand,  its  vitaHty  may  be  exhausted  in  an  outward 
growth,  while  no  nourishment  is  afforded  to  the 
root.  For  the  true  relation  of  the  active  and 
contemplative  duties  of  rehgion  is  not  inaptly 
illustrated  by  the  sap,  which,  rising  from  the 
root,  flows  into  every  branch  and  twig  of  the  tree, 
but  returns  to  the  soil  again  for  replenishment. 
"Whatever  may  be  the  amount  of  nourishment 
absorbed  by  plants  from  the  atmosphere  through 
the  agency  of  the  bark  and  leaves,  all  of  it  is 
forced  to  enter  the  stems  through  absorption  by 
the  roots."  So,  however  earnest  and  active  Chris- 
tians may  be  in  works  of  charity  and  efforts  to  do 
good,  the  vigour  and  spring  of  their  life  are  de- 
rived only  from  communion  with  God  through 
Christ  by  the  grace  and  power  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 
Among  the  most  appropriate  spheres,  outside  of 
the  family,  for  active  duty,  the  young  Christian 
finds  the  Sunday-school.  If  an  opportunity  occurs 
to  engage  as  a  teacher  in  a  well-conducted  Sunday- 
school,  you  would  do  well  to  embrace  it.  A  faith- 
ful discharge  of  the  duty  will  involve  the  neces- 


USES   OF    LIFE.  339 

sitj  of  familiarizing  your  niind  with  the  truths  to 
be  taught;  and  to  attempt  to  teach  others  is  a 
very  effectual  method  of  teaching  ourselves.  The 
study  of  character  and  of  the  ways  of  influencing 
other  minds  is  also  of  great  value.  The  circum- 
spection which  the  office  of  a  religious  teacher 
(especially  of  children)  demands,  and  the  habits 
of  attention  and  punctuahty  which  are  indispen- 
sable to  great  usefulness  in  it,  make  it  a  desirable 
method  of  self-disciphne.  The  intercom^se  with 
the  families  represented  in  a  class,  which  becomes 
needful  and  natural  in  the  periodical  visits  of  the 
teacher  to  the  pupil,  offers  an  invaluable  oppor- 
tunity of  reaching  parents,  older  brothers  and 
sisters,  and  neighbours  also,  with  salutary  in- 
fluences. 

By  some  it  is  regarded  as  an  advantage,  and  by 
others  as  an  objection,  that  the  occupation  of  a 
Sunday-school-teacher  is  favourable  to  social  in- 
tercourse. You  need  not  be  told  that  uniform 
unfeigned  Christian  courtesy  is  due  and  should 
be  cheerfully  shown  to  all  with  whom  you  are 
associated  in  this  or  any  other  good  work.  To 
show  this  demands  no  sacrifice,  even  of  the  con- 
ventional proprieties  of  hfe;  nor  does  the  specific 


340  USES   OF    LIFE. 

duty  of  a  Sunday-school-teacher  require  the  con- 
traction of  intimacies  which  would  not  otherwise 
be  formed.  The  more  single  and  simple  the  motives 
that  prompt  our  benevolent  efforts,  the  more  likely 
are  they  to  be  successful.  Should  it  be  your  duty 
to  accept  the  post  of  a  teacher,  you  will  find 
manuals  and  treatises  of  various  kinds  to  supply 
such  information  as  you  may  need  in  the  details 
of  the  service. 

There  are  other  spheres  of  usefulness  not  less 
adapted,  perhaps,  to  your  temperament  and  circum- 
stances than  Sunday-school  teaching,- — such  as  daily 
schools  of  charity,  and  asylums  for  neglected  chil- 
dren, ministering  to  the  necessities  of  widows  and 
to  the  comfort  of  the  sick,  the  bedridden  and  the 
dying  who  are  within  your  reach.  However  use- 
ful associations  for  these  various  objects  may  be, 
the  spontaneous  action  of  individual  Christian 
hearts,  and  the  personal  sympathy  which  refuses 
to  flow  through  artificial  channels  or  to  accept 
the  services  of  stipendiary  almoners  of  pubhc  or 
private  charity,  are  most  to  be  desired  in  all  efforts 
to  elevate  or  ameHorate  the  condition  of  the  suffer- 
ing poor.  You  will  find  more  satisfaction  in  one 
personal  essay  to  relieve  a  burdened  heart  than 


SISTKKS   OF    CHARITT.  341 

in  the  most  liberal  devices  of  benevolence  by 
proxy. 

"  The  rich  man  who  goes  to  his  poor  brothers 
cottage,  and,  without  affectation  of  humility,  natu- 
rally and  with  the  respect  which  man  owes  to  man, 
enters  into  his  circumstances,  inquires  about  his 
distresses  and  hears  his  homely  tale,  has  done 
more  to  establish  an  interchange  of  kindly  feeling 
than  he  could  have  secured  by  the  costliest  present 
by  itself.  Public  donations  have  their  value  and 
theif  uses ;  poor-laws  keep  human  beings  from 
starvation ;  but,  in  point  of  eliciting  gratitude,  all 
these  fail.  Man  has  not  been  brought  into  con- 
tact close  enough  with  man  for  this.  They  do 
(lot  work  by  sympathy." 

I  need  not  caution  you  against  the  delusion 
that  these  charitable  offices  require  one  to  lay 
aside  the  ordinary  duties  and  relations  of  life,  and 
adopt  a  peculiar  apparel  or  become  associated  with 
a  particular  order  or  class  of  persons  who  devote 
themselves  to  such  a  service.  I  would  not  question 
the  sincerity  or  usefulness,  nor  detract  in  the 
slightest  degree  from  the  merit,  of  such  persons ; 
but  I  maintain  that  whatever  w^orks  of  charity 
are  required  it  is  the  duty  of  all  Christian  dis- 

29* 


342  SISTERS   OF    CHARITY. 

ciples  to  perform,  and  that  they  are  most  worthily 
and  efficiently  performed  in  connection  with  the 
ordinary  relations  of  life.  That  is  a  most  com 
prehensive  and  beautiful  summary  of  both  the 
personal  and  social  duties  of  a  follower  of  Christ 
which  the  Apostle  James  gives  us  : — "  Pure  re- 
ligion and  undefiled  before  God  and  the  Father 
is  this  :  to  visit  the  fatherless  and  widows  in  their 
affliction,  and  to  keep  himself  unspotted  from  the 
world."  The  latter  precept  may  be  obeyed  by 
proxy  as  well  as  the  former ;  and  neither  requires 
the  renunciation  of  the  ordinary  relations  of  life 
nor  the  assumption  of  a  singular  costume. 

Many  persons  encumber  themselves  with  so 
many  engagements  and  concern  themselves  with  so 
many  different  schemes,  that  they  actually  accom- 
plish very  little  of  practical  value.  My  counsel  to 
you  is  to  select  the  sphere  of  usefulness  to  which, 
under  the  guidance  of  the  Spirit  of  all  wisdom, 
you  think  yourself  best  adapted,  and  give  your 
time  and  energies  to  ^/^a^,  declining  all  diverting 
or  distracting  avocations. 

2.  These  active  duties  wiU,  of  course,  bring 
you  into  communion  with  people  of  various  cha- 
racters and  pursuits ;  and  you  will  see  much  to 


DIFFUSION   OF    RELIGION.  343 

stumble  and  perplex  you  in  the  conduct  of  those 
whom  you  feel  bound  to  regard  as  true  Christians. 
Your  own  humble  and  consistent  walk  will  be  the 
most  effective  reproof  of  the  delinquencies  of 
others ;  and  he  who  best  knows  himself  will  be 
the  last  to  condemn  others. 

The  question  will  often  occur  to  you,  How  can  T 
bring  a  Christian  influence  to  bear  on  this,  that  or  the 
other  person,— a  neighbour  or  his  child,  a  servant, 
an  errand-boy,  the  milkman  or  butcher,  the  miller 
or  gardener,  the  wood-sawyer,  the  traveller,  or 
even  the  miserable  mendicant  that  begs  from  door 
to  door  ?  Much  discrimination,  and  a  wise  discern- 
ment of  times  and  seasons,  are  invaluable  quahfica- 
tions  for  the  right  discharge  of  so  delicate  and 
responsible  a  duty.  That  we  are  bound  to  do  all 
in  our  power  to  bring  others  to  the  knowledge  of 
Christ  as  the  only  Saviour  of  sinners,  no  one  will 
deny  who  believes  his  gospel;  and  there  is  no 
plainer  or  brighter  promise  on  the  sacred  page 
than  that  which  is  given  to  those  who  turn  man}, 
to  righteousness  :— "  They  shall  shine  as  the  bright- 
ness of  the  firmament,  and  as  the  stars,  for  ever 
and  ever."  Many  favourable  opportunities  for 
calling  the  attention  of  others  to  the  subject  of 


344  DIFFUSION   OF    RELIGION. 

personal  religion  are  lost  through  timidity  or  a 
fear  that  our  motives  will  be  misapprehended,  or 
a  consciousness  of  defects  and  delinquencies  which 
may  well  extort  the  exhortation,  ^^  Physician,  heal 
thyself!" 

There  may  be  a  morbid  sensitiveness  on  this 
subject,  which  it  is  our  duty  to  control ;  and  if 
one  way  of  approach  is  closed  we  are  to  seek 
another.  Sometimes  a  letter,  or  a  book,  or  a 
marked  passage  in  a  newspaper,  will  be  kindly 
received  where  a  personal  conference  would  be 
declined  or  evaded.  We  may  also  succeed  in 
putting  a  friend  or  neighbour  into  a  position 
more  favourable  to  the  germination  or  growth  of 
religious  principle  than  the  one  he  occupies,  or  in 
gradually  withdrawing  him  from  influences  and 
associations  unfriendly  to  his  spiritual  welfare. 
In  these  and  all  other  efforts  to  serve  our  most 
gracious  and  loving  Master,  we  are  diligently  to 
seek  his  direction  and  blessing  and  adhere  as 
closely  as  possible  to  his  precepts  and  example. 

3.  In  nothing  are  the  wisdom  and  benevolence 
of  the  Creator  more  manifest  than  in  the  consti- 
tution of  the  human  family.  We  are  made  to 
depend  in  infancy  on  one  with  whom  we  are  con- 


DIFFUSION   OF    RELIGION.  345 

nected  by  the  strongest  instincts  and  sympathies 
of  our  nature.  The  first  conscious  emotions  of 
faith  and  love  are  towards  the  most  faithful  and 
loving  of  all  a  child's  earthly  kindred, — a  mother  ; 
and  the  first  restrictions  upon  our  self-will  are 
imposed  by  the  same  gentle  voice  that  has  soothed 
our  httle  sorrows  and  enforced  by  the  same  soft 
hand  that  has  patiently  ministered  to  our  ceaseless 
wants.  Submission  to  the  law  of  the  nursery 
gives  the  most  hopeful  promise  of  submission  to 
the  sterner  law  of  the  family  and  of  society,  and 
ultimately  to  the  perfect  law  of  the  gospel. 

Our  first  duties,  then,  lie  within  the  narrow 
sphere  of  home;  and  in  their  proper  discharge  we 
have  the  basis  of  whatever  is  most  "  pure,  lovely 
and  of  good  report"  in  future  life.  A  dutiful  child 
and  a  loving  brother  or  sister  is  the  embryo  con- 
dition of  a  kind  neighbour,  a  good  citizen  and  a 
true  philanthropist. 

With  the  opening  of  school-days  our  circle  of 
influence,  active  and  passive,  is  considerably  en- 
larged. New  relations  are  formed,  involving  cor- 
responding duties.  Passions  and  emotions  are 
awakened  which  may  have  been  before  asleep; 
and  their  regulation  or  control  is  found  to  be  no 


346  DIFFUSION    OF    RELIGION. 

easy  task.  It  is  the  world  in  miniature;  and 
every  victory  over  one's  self  here  is  of  invaluable 
service  in  preparing  us  for  sharper  conflicts  and 
fiercer  adversaries  in  the  future. 

School-days  over,  we  enter  on  the  active  duties 
of  life,  but  have  still  a  well-defined  orbit,  within 
which  our  energies  of  body  and  mind  will  find 
full  employment.  The  neighbourhood  in  which 
our  lot  is  cast,  and  the  humble,  unostentatious, 
and  perhaps  unnoticed  round  of  personal,  social, 
daily  duties  to  which  we  are  called  there,  deserve 
the  first  attention.  It  is  by  the  little  rills  of 
benevolence  that  flow  silently,  and  unheeded  by 
the  world,  among  the  sons  and  daughters  of  want, 
sorrow  and  suflering  in  our  own  neighbourhood, 
that  the  weary  are  comforted  and  the  perishing 
saved.  Do  not  harbour  the  thought  for  a  moment 
that  the  measure  of  good  we  do  in  the  world  is 
proportioned  to  the  scale  on  which  it  is  done. 
This  has  been  an  egregious  mistake  with  many. 
While  waiting  for  an  opportunity  to  do  some 
great  thing,  life  and  energy  have  ebbed  away, 
and  nothing  is  accomphshed. 

It  is  not  needful,  however,  that  we  should 
withhold  sympathy  and  aid  from  those  more  ex- 


SCHEMES   OF   GOOD.  347 

pansive  means  of  blessing  and  saving  men  for 
which  our  age  is  distinguished.  The  universal 
diffusion  of  the  Bible,  and  the  introduction  and 
establishment  of  the  ordinances  of  our  holy  reli- 
gion in  the  place  of  false  and  corrupt  systems  of 
idolatry  and  superstition,  are  projects  of  command- 
ing interest  to  every  thoughtful  mind.  Unless 
your  attention  has  been  turned  particularly  to  the 
subject,  you  would  not  be  likely  to  realize  the 
vastness  and  godlike  aim  of  these  schemes  of 
Christian  benevolence. 

Without  entering  at  all  into  the  vain  specula- 
tions which  have  been  often  indulged  as  to  the 
condition  which  awaits  the  heathen  in  the  unseen 
world,  it  cannot  be  doubted  that  it  is  the  will  and 
purpose  of  the  founder  of  Christianity  that  its 
benign  principles  shall  be  inculcated  the  world 
over,  and  that  it  is  the  first  and  chief  duty  of  his 
disciples  to  see  that  it  is  done.  The  means  and 
agencies  for  accomplishing  it  are  within  reach ; 
and  our  business  is  to  select  and  employ  themi, 
under  his  guidance  and  blessing,  trusting  in  the 
sure  word  of  prophecy,  that  "all  flesh  shall  see 
the  salvation  of  God."  How  far  the  humbles*t 
and  most  insignificant  instruments  may  be  made 


348  A   LITTLE   LEAVEN. 

available  for  the  most  stupendous  results,  those 
best  know  who  have  scanned  most  closely  the 
mysteries  of  divine  Providence.  That  little  girl 
in  your  class  at  Sunday-school,  whose  father  saws 
wood  and  whose  mother  takes  in  washing,  brings 
her  first  earned  penny  to  you,  and  it  is  invested 
in  a  little  sixteen-page  hymn-book,  which  finds 
its  way  into  a  school  in  the  wilderness,  and, 
falling  into  the  hands  of  a  little  boy,  awakens  in 
his  untutored  mind  a  desire  to  serve  and  obey 
God.  In  process  of  time  the  seed  thus  silently 
and  secretly  sown  comes  to  the  fruit-bearing 
stage,  and  the  little  boy,  now  in  vigorous  man- 
hood, is  about  to  embark  for  the  flowery  land  of 
Sinim.  He  bears  glad  tidings  to  the  debased 
and  ignorant  disciples  of  Confucius.  Thousands 
wait  upon  his  ministry,  and,  by  the  grace  of  God, 
accept  the  offers  of  salvation;  and  successive 
generations,  long  after  you  and  the  little  penny 
contributor  and  the  missionary  are  buried,  and 
peradventure  forgotten,  will  the  work  of  mercy 
so  insignificant  in  its  beginning  stretch  outward 
and  onward  beyond  the  limits  of  finite  conception. 
It  is  this  consideration  which  imparts  so  much 
sacredness  anl   solemnity  to  the  Christian  voca- 


A   PERPLEXITY.  349 

tion  and  clothes  every  moment  and  act  of  life 
with  so  much  importance.  We  know  not  how 
closely  an  act,  a  word,  or  even  an  unexpressed 
thought  may  be  connected  with  the  salvation  of 
some  soul,  the  happiness  of  an  individual,  of  a 
family,  or  of  the  community,  or  the  conversion  of 
the  world ! 

If  we  propose  to  ourselves  at  the  outstart  the 
one  definite  purpose  of  making  all  our  powers 
and  faculties,  our  acquirements  and  opportunities, 
subservient  to  the  welfare  of  those  around  us  and 
the  glory  of  our  Father  and  Saviour  in  heaven,  we 
shall  find  little  difficulty  in  selecting  the  sphere  of 
our  effort  or  in  determining  the  best  way  of  filling 
it.  Where  such  a  principle  predominates"^  pride 
and  worldly  ambition  are  kept  at  bay  and  the 
path  of  duty  is  plain.  That  position  is  most 
elevated  in  which  most  can  be  done  to  make  men 
happy  by  making  them  holy. 

It  will  perplex  you,  I  have  no  doubt,  (as  it  has 
often  perplexed  others  wiser  than  we  are,)  to 
account  for  the  slow  progress  and  comparatively 
limited  triumphs  of  Christianity.  Indeed,  it  is 
alleged  by  superficial  thinkers  and  reasoners  as 
an  argument  against  its  claims,  that  it  does  not 

30 


350  THE    GREAT    ANTAGONISM. 

make  more  rapid  and  extensiA^e  mroads  upon  the 
kingdoms  of  sin  and  darkness.  Such  persons 
forget  that  not  to  retreat  or  lose  ground  is  some- 
times a  more  conclusive  evidence  of  power  than 
the  most  brilliant  victory.  A  fortuitous  incident 
may  decide  the  event  of  a  battle ;  but  to  retain 
a  position  against  fearful  odds  requires  consum- 
mate skill  and  heroic  courage.  The  whole  tide 
of  human  depravity  withstands  the  humbling, 
self-denying,  lust-crucifying  spirit  of  the  gospel 
of  Christ.  Ephraim,  joined  to  his  idols,  is  quiet 
when  let  alone  ;  but  if  his  strongholds  are  assailed 
he  becomes  like  a  lion  robbed  of  her  whelps.  Sin 
is  the  ruling  spirit  of  an  unregenerate  world; 
holiness  is  the  ruling  spirit  of  the  gospel.  Their 
antagonism  is  as  deep  and  broad  as  that  of  life 
and  death.  Sin  has  all  the  advantage  of  pre- 
occupation and  the  sympathy  of  the  invaded  pro- 
vince. Christianity  must  win  all  its  friends  and 
allies  from  the  enemy's  ground. 

Look  at  the  world  as  it  was  when  our  holy 
religion  was  founded.  The  nation  to  whom  had 
been  committed  the  divine  oracles, — the  chosen 
people  of  God, — had  incurred  his  displeasure  and 
were  subject  to  a  heathen  power.     Not  only  were 


THE    PROGRESS    OF    TRUTH.  351 

they  "  scattered  and  peeled,"  but  were  given  up 
to  judicial  blindness,  so  that  when  the  promised 
and  long-expected  Messiah  appeared,  instead  of 
being  in  their  eyes  as  the  rose  of  Sharon  and  the 
lily  of  the  valley,  he  was  "  as  a  root  out  of  dry 
ground,  without  form  or  comeliness."  Instead  of 
being  the  foremost  to  welcome  him  as  the  anti- 
type so  long  and  so  significantly  represented  in 
the  rites  and  ceremonies  of  their  church,  they 
despised  and  rejected  him.  They  opposed  him  at 
every  stage  of  his  earthly  ministry,  and  finally 
laid  their  wicked  hands  on  him  and  put  him  to 
death. 

As  soon  as  his  divine  power  had  been  re- 
vealed by  his  sundering  the  bands  of  death  and 
triumphing  over  the  grave,  his  few  humble  dis- 
ciples rallied,  and,  under  his  express  commission, 
began  to  propagate  his  doctrines  and  proclaim  his 
authority  as  head  over  all  things  to  the  Church. 
And  what  has  been  the  result  ?  In  the  absence 
of  positive  and  exact  information,  which  it  is 
obviously  impracticable  to  obtain,  we  probably 
approximate  the  truth  when  we  set  the  number 
of  disciples  in  the  first  century  at  five  hundred 
thousand ;  in  the  fifth  century  at  fifteen  millions ; 


352  THE   WORLD    AS  IT    IS. 

in  the  tenth  century  at  fifty  millions ;  and  in  the 
eighteenth  century  at  two  hundred  millions.  Esti- 
mating the  total  population  of  the  globe  at  ten 
hundred  millions,  it  is  probable  that  not  far  from 
one-third  are  nominally  Christian ;  that  is,  they 
recognize  the  existence  of  one  God,  and  receive 
the  Old  and  New  Testament  as  a  revelation  of  his 
will.  Of  these  nearly  two-thirds  profess  to  belong 
to  the  Greek  and  Papal  Churches  :  so  that  the  Pro- 
testant faith,  as  it  prevails  in  the  United  States 
and  Great  Britain,  embraces^  less  than  one-tenth 
of  the  population  of  the  globe.  The  false  re- 
ligions of  Asia  have  from  three  to  four  hundred 
millions  of  deluded  disciples ;  the  followers  of 
Mohammed  number  from  one  hundred  and  twenty 
to  one  hundred  and  fifty  millions ;  and  heathenism 
absorbs  the  remainder.* 

In  regard  to  the  methods  by  which  the  know- 


^  The  Director  of  the  Statistical  Department  at  Berlin,  C.  F. 
W.  Dartirich,  classifies  the  population  of  the  world,  according  to 
creeds,  as  follows : — The  whole  population  of  the  earth  is  estimated 
at  one  billion  and  two  hundred  millions,  of  whom  Christians  con- 
stitute 25.77  per  cent. ;  Jews,  0.38  per  cent. ;  Asiatic  religions, 
46.15  per  cent. ;  Mohammedan,  12.31  per  cent. ;  Pagan,  25.29  per 
cent.  The  three  hvmdred  and  thirty-five  millions  of  Christians 
he  divides  as  follows :  Roman  Catholics,  50.7  per  cent. ;  Protest- 
ants, 25.6  per  cent. ;  Greek  Catholics,  22.7  per  cent. 


MACHINERY.  353 

ledge  of  the  true  God  and  of  his  Son  Jesus  Christ 
shall  be  most  widely  and  rapidly  extended,  there 
may  be  some  diversity  of  views.  Much  of  the 
energy  and  means  of  the  Protestant  church  in 
our  day  find  an  outlet  through  various  organiza- 
tions, more  or  less  general  in  their  character  and 
objects.  There  are  societies,  as  you  well  know, 
that  appoint  and  support  missionaries  to  the 
heathen  and  to  such  portions  of  our  own  country 
as  are  destitute  of  the  Christian  ministry  and 
ordinances.  There  are  societies  to  print  and  dis- 
tribute Bibles  and  religious  books  and  tracts ;  to 
organize  and  sustain  Sunday-schools ;  to  provide 
instruction  and  industrial  training  for  ignorant 
and  neglected  children ;  to  search  out  and  relieve 
poverty  and  distress ;  to  reclaim  the  juvenile  de- 
linquent ;  to  protect  and  care  for  the  widow  and 
orphan ;  to  look  after  seamen ;  to  aid  in  building 
churches ;  to  assist  young  men  of  professed  piety 
in  preparing  for  the  work  of  the  ministry ;  and  for 
numberless  purposes  of  a  less  general  character. 
Like  every  thing  human,  such  agencies  are  im- 
perfect and  liable  to  abuse ;  and,  while  we  have 
abundant  cause  to  praise  the  Author  of  all  good 
that  so  much  has  been  accomphshed  by  their  means, 

X  30* 


354  THE    CHURCH. 

we  may  very  properly  inquire  whether  his  own  ap- 
pointed methods  of  saving  men  have  their  proper 
place  in  the  estimation  of  his  servants.  We  can- 
not doubt  that,  in  his  infinite  wisdom,  instruments 
are  provided  fully  adequate  to  the  accomphsh- 
ment  of  his  purposes  of  mercy ;  and,  though  men 
are  at  liberty  to  adapt  their  methods  of  evangeliza- 
tion to  the  shifting  exigencies  of  the  times  in 
which  they  live,  it  cannot  be  doubted  that  there 
is  a  power  in  the  great  body  of  the  followers  of 

Christ,    IN    THEIR    CHURCH    ORGANIZATION,    to    aCCOm- 

phsh  a  far  greater  amount  of  good  than  all  human 
devices  combined.  Under  the  ordinary  circum- 
stances of  life,  perhaps  no  safer  course  could  be 
prescribed  for  one  who  would  live  to  good  pur- 
poses for  his  Saviour  and  for  his  race,  than  to 
identify  himself,  as  early  as  practicable,  with  some 
church  which  he  believes  to  be  a  church  of  Christ, 
and  where  his  edification  is  most  likely  to  be 
promoted,  and  give  himself  earnestly  to  work  in 
and  hy  that  divinely -a'pi^ointed  method  of  advancing 
the  well-being,  temporal  and  spiritual,  of  fallen  men. 
It  cannot  be  doubted  that  if  the  Church  of 
Christ  (meaning  by  that  term  the  whole  body  of 
his  true    disciples)    were    united  and  earnest  in 


THE    CHURCH.  355 

obeying  the  simple  requisitions  of  his  gospel,  and 
should  illustrate  its  principles  no  more  conspicu- 
ously than  the  primitive  disciples  did,  there 
would  be  no  form  of  human  suffering,  sorrow  or 
guilt  for  which  provision  could  not  be  made  far 
more  effectively  and  economically  than  it  is  done 
at  present.  If  the  Church  of  Christ  did  its  obvious 
duty,  the  blessings  of  education,  of  personal  and 
national  freedom,  of  domestic  and  social  enjoy- 
ment, of  peace,  purity  and  prosperity,  would  be 
diffused  as  widely  as  the  habitations  of  men. 
The  hoary  systems  of  superstition  and  idolatry 
would  pass  away  as  prowling  beasts  retire  to 
their  coverts  when  the  dayspring  arises.  The 
humblest  man  who  walks  with  God  wields  a 
power  by  which  fleets  and  armies,  and  the  nations 
who  put  their  trust  in  them,  are  saved  or  de- 
stroyed. What  could  the  king  of  Israel  and  all 
his  hosts  do  to  avert  the  three  years'  drought 
which  the  prayer  of  one  man,  with  passions  like 
our's,  brought  upon  the  land  ? 

The  Church  in  our  time  is  weakened  and  dis- 
tracted by  strifes  of  words  and  the  struggles  of 
various  communions  to  propagate  their  peculiar 
doctrines  or  usages.     Of  the  three  hundred  mil- 


356  THE    WORLD. 

lions  of  nominal  Christians,  as  we  have  said,  at 
least  two-thirds  are  enslaved  to  the  grossest  forms 
of   superstition.     They  put    darkness    for    light; 
and  wherever  they  gain  a  foothold  there  a  new 
barrier  is   erected  to   the  progress  of  the  truth, 
instead  of  a  new  centre  from  which  to  diffuse  its 
blessings.     This  is  not   said  with    any  harsh  or 
unkind  feeling.     However  it   may  be  with   the 
leaders  and  propagandists  of  their  faith,  we  must 
suppose  the  great  body  of  the  Papal  Church  verily 
c'hink  they  are  serving  God  according  to  his  will; 
or,  in  the  absence  of  any  positive  intelligent  con- 
riction,  are  not  conscious  of  acting  contrary  to  it. 
•Still,  we  must  regard  these  two  hundred  millions 
of  the  human  family — though  professing  to  know 
Ihe  true  God  and  to  receive  the  same  revelation 
of  his  will  that  we  have — as  slaves  to  a  corrupt 
and  superstitious  faith.     The  remnant  of  Israel — 
perhaps    amounting   to    five  millions  in  all — ^are 
scrupulous  believers  in  the  Old  Testament  Scrip- 
tures, but  peremptorily  and  universally  reject  the 
New. 

And  now  we  turn  our  eyes  away  from  every 
glimmer  of  light  that  Protestant,  Papal  or  Jewish 
religions  supply,  and  look  out  upon  some  six  or 


THE    WOULD.  357 

seven  hundred  millions  of  our  fellow-creatures 
groj)ing  in  the  darkness  of  paganism  and  de- 
graded by  all  the  vile  passions  and  brutal  vices 
which  are  inseparable  from  that  condition.  Here 
and  there  we  descry  a  Protestant  mission-station, 
established  and  sustained  by  a  few  devoted  men 
and  women,  often  at  the  imminent  hazard  of  health 
and  life,  and  with  rare  accessions  to  their  number 
from  the  native  population.  Undaunted  by  danger 
and  undiscouraged  by  opposition  and  abuse,  they 
hold  on  their  way.  Rarely  is  a  station  abandoned 
which  is  once  fairly  taken ;  and  so  great  has  been 
the  success  which  has  attended  some  of  these 
invasions  of  the  kingdom  of  darkness  as  to  war- 
rant the  fullest  confidence  in  the  practicabihty  of 
the  work  upon  any  scale  which  the  faith  and 
liberahty  of  Christ's  followers  may  propose. 

It  may  interest  and  encourage  you  to  reflect 
for  a  moment  upon  the  number  and  effectiveness 
of  the  instruments  by  which  so  stupendous  a 
revolution  as  the  conversion  of  the  world  is  to  be 
brought  about,  compared  with  those  which  were 
at  the  control  of  the  Church  only  fifty  years  ago. 
Then  the  Holy  Scriptures  were  read  in  only 
thirty-six  languages,  and  were  available  to  only 


358  THE    WORLD. 

two  hundred  millions.  Now  they  are  printed  in 
two  hundred  and  sixty  languages,  and  are  avail- 
able to  six  or  eight  hundred  millions  :  so  that 
ill  almost  all  the  nations  of  the  globe  may  be 
read  by  every  man,  in  his  own  tongue,  wherein 
he  Avas  born,  the  doctrines  and  requirements  of  the 
Christian  faith.  The  press  has  advanced  in  power 
within  that  period  more  rapidly  than  in  all  pre- 
ceding generations  since  the  art  of  printing  was 
discovered.  The  facihties  of  intercourse  between 
the  various  nations  of  the  globe  have  been,  mul- 
tiplied almost  indefinitely,  and  the  incitements  to 
peaceful  and  beneficent  enterprises  have  kept  pace 
with  them.  So  that  at  this  moment  it  may  be 
assumed  that  access  may  be  had  to  at  least  four- 
fifths  of  the  people  of  the  earth,  for  civihzing  and 
evangelizing  purposes. 

Africa  has  not  for  ages  presented  so  many 
tokens  that  the  time  of  deliverance  is  at  hand 
for  her  degraded  tribes.  The  report  of  every  new 
exploring  expedition  reveals  encouraging  prospects 
for  the  introduction  of  agriculture,  commerce  and 
the  mechanic  arts ;  and  in  some  districts  the 
blessings  of  civihzation  are  enjoyed  in  a  higher 
degree  than  in  many  parts  of  Europe. 


THE    WORLD.  359 

In   Asia  we   find    more  than  half  the  human 
race, — six  hundred  millions  being  probably  Avithin 
the  true  estimate,  of  whom  more  than  half   in- 
habit the  Chinese  empire.     The  rest  are  divided 
among  the  Buddhist,  the  Brahmin  and  the  Mo- 
hammedan faiths.     The  very  recent  change  in  the 
outward  relations  of  the    Chinese   and  Japanese 
governments  will   unquestionably  effect   a   rapid 
modification  of  their  civil   and  moral  condition. 
But  it  must  be  a  work  of  time.     The  institutions 
which  give  a  nation  a  high  position  .and  influence 
are  the  growth  of  centuries.     No  finite  mind  can 
conceive  of  the  number  which  represents  the  popu- 
lation of  the  Chinese  empire.    Imagine  that  you 
stood  in  some  favourable  position  for  the  purpose 
for  the  space  of  ten  hours  every  day,  and  that  in 
each  hour  one  thousand  of  them  passed  before  you. 
This  would  be   ten  thousand  every  day.     How 
long   do    you    suppose    you    would    stand    there 
before  all  the  people  of  that  vast  empire  would 
go  by  ?     Not  less  than  eighty  years  ! 

What  mighty  agencies  must  be  employed  to 
effect  a  moral  revolution  in  such  a  mass  of  de- 
praved, degraded  humanity  !  If  they  were  di- 
vided into  congregations  of  two  thousand  souls 


360  THE    WORLD. 

each,  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  ministers 
would  be  required  for  their  supply.  Yet  it  is  not 
an  extravagant  idea  that  China  may  be  an  en- 
lightened Protestant  nation  before  some  who 
may  read  these  pages  have  ended  their  pil- 
grimage. With-  all  their  absurd  superstitions  and 
gross  vices,  there  is  a  striking  fondness  for  know- 
ledge among  them.  The  religion  of  the  people  is 
not  connected  with  the  State,  and  they  are  rather 
atheistic  than  idolatrous.  The  leaven  of  truth 
once  fairly  introduced  would  spread  with  mar- 
vellous rapidity. 

The  one  hundred  and  fifty  millions  of  India  are 
much  nearer  their  emancipation  from  the  cruel 
bondage  of  heathenism  than  they  were  fifty  years 
ago.  It  may  be  doubted  whether  the  late  re- 
bellion, fearful  as  it  was  in  its  direct  consequences, 
may  not  have  purified  the  moral  atmosphere  of 
the  country  and  opened  the  way  for  the  introduc- 
tion more  freely  and  extensively  of  the  truth  as 
Protestant  America  and  England  hold  it.  The 
suppression  of  suttee  and  infanticide  to  so  great 
a  degree,  and  the  gradual  adoption  of  the  railway 
and  the  telegraph  and  a  knowledge  of  the  prin 
ciples  of  their  construction,  must  soon  drive  im- 


THE    WORLD.  361 

posture  and  necromancy  into  their  hiding-places 
and  prepare  the  way  for  the  messengers  of  truth 
and  freedom. 

The  blighting  influence  of  Popery,  though  of 
late  apparently  spreading  itself,  is  more  likely  to 
be  crippled  by  causes  outside  of  itself  than  any 
of  the  other  corrupt  religions  of  the  earth.  So 
close  is  its  alhance  with  the  political  governments 
of  the  earth,  and  so  dependent  is  it  upon  their 
guardianship  and  succour  for  its  maintenance,  that 
its  destiny  is  inseparable  from  thek's.  Popery 
would  dwindle  at  once  into  an  insignificant  power 
if  the  countenance  of  civil  despotism  were  with- 
drawn from  it;  and  there  is  no  hazard  nor  un- 
charitableness  in  saying  that  even  now  its  re- 
cognition in  Papal  countries  is  a  matter  of  State 
policy  rather  than  as  a  medium  through  which 
the  religious  emotions  of  the  people  find  an  ex- 
pression. Faith  is  reposed  in  the  priest, — not  in 
God.  Worship  is  bfindly  paid  to  Mary,  the  crea- 
ture,— not  to  Christ,  the  Creator.  We  may  expect, 
therefore,  that  as  light  advances  and  truth  asserts 
her  supremacy  over  the  human  mind  the  Papal 
power  will  wane  and  become  extinct.  It  may  be 
that  those  who  are  driven  from  her  battered  and 

31 


362  THE    WORLD. 

dilapidated  fortresses  will  take  refage  in  in- 
fidelity ;  but  the  light  of  truth  will  follow  them 
there,  for  none  of  the  workers  of  iniquity  can 
hide  themselves  from  it. 

The  continued  prevalence  of  war  is  sometimes 
ascribed  to  the  want  of  vigour  and  force  in  the 
principle  of  Christianity.  But  this  is  a  hasty 
conclusion.  It  is  indeed  a  depressing  thought 
that  the  countries  of  Europe,  even  in  time  of 
peace,  spend  annually  more  than  three  hundred 
and  fifty  millions  of  dollars  upon  their  armies  and 
one  hundred  and  fifty  millions  upon  their  navies, 
and  that  fifteen  of  every  hundred  of  their  male 
adults  are  constantly  under  arms.  But  the  very 
skill  in  the  art  of  w^ar  which  the  most  powerful 
nations  of  the  earth  now  possess  may  be  among 
the  chief  causes  why  wars  are  not  more  frequent 
and  protracted.  And  it  is  not  improbable  that 
when  the  physical  power  of  nations  becomes 
more  equally  matched,  a  recognition  of  the  prin- 
ciples of  peace  will  be  maintained  consistently 
with  national  honour ;  and  that  what  is  now  vainly 
sought  by  brute  force  will  be  obtained  by  pacific 
and  generous  negotiation,  so  that  we  may  feel 
encouraged  to  do  what  is  in  our  power,  how-^^v^iT 


THE    WORLD.  363 

humble  our  position  or  narrow  our  sphere,  for  the 
advancement  of  every  good  work.  If  you  succeed, 
by  the  blessing  of  your  heavenly  Father,  in  im- 
planting in  a  single  human  heart  a  seed  of  virtue, 
a  principle  of  love  and  obedience,  or  even  a  faint 
desire  for  a  better  and  purer  life,  you  may  have 
contributed  to  the  grand  result  in  a  measure  ex- 
ceeding finite  comprehension. 

Outside  of  the  family  and  Church  no  more 
powerful  agency  has  been  devised  to  bless  and 
save  men  than  our  Sunday-schools.  Were  each 
one  of  the  host  of  religious  instructors  employed 
in  them  duly  impressed  with  the  magnitude  of 
the  work  they  have  in  hand  and  the  vastness  of 
the  aggregate  results  of  individual  skill  and  faith- 
fulness, we  might  feel  strong  confidence  that  a 
bright  day  is  at  hand  for  our  country  and  for 
the  Church  of  the  hving  God, — a  day  in  which 
the  light  of  the  moon  shall  be  as  the  light  of 
the  sun,  and  the  fight  of  the  sun  sevenfold,  as 
the  light  of  seven  days. 

If  you  inquire,  then,  how  you  shall  make  your 
mark  on  the  generation  which  accompanies  you  over 
the  stage  of  life,  the  reply  is,  Quafify  yourselves 
to  contribute  as  largely  as  possible  to  the  improve- 


364  THE    WORLD. 

ment  and  happiness  of  those  who  immediately 
surround  you,  and  let  these  works  of  faith  and 
labours  of  love  be  so  pervaded  and  energized  by 
the  Spirit  of  Christ  that  neither  time  nor  space 
can  bound  them.  "What  we  love,"  says  one, 
"  we  find  means  to  follow ;"  and  this  makes  me 
earnestly  desh^e  for  you  that  the  love  of  Jesus 
may  take  full  possession  of  your  heart  and  be 
what  Dr.  Chalmers  called  "the  great  expulsive 
principle,  which  drives  every  thing  but  Jesus 
out, — the  world,  and  self,  and  every  thing." 

"  What  should  I  be  without  Christ  ?"  exclaims 
Elizabeth  Fry.  "Where  should  I  stand?  I 
never  have  known  despondency.  Whatever  may 
have  been  my  depths  of  suffering  in  mind  or 
body,  still,  the  confidence  has  never  left  me  that 
all  was  and  would  be^  well, — if  not  in  time,  in 
eternity, — that  the  end  would  be  peace.  I  never 
lose  the  feeling  of  this,  and  am  always  on  the 
Rock.     That  conviction  never  leaves  me."* 


*  Memoir  of   Elizabeth   Fry.     By  her    Daughters.     London 
edition,  1847,  vol.  ii.  p.  498. 


INDEX. 


A. 

PASB 

Apostles'  Creed,  its  antiquity  and  general  reception 83 

Atonement,  doctrine  of,  fundamental  in  the  moral  govern- 
ment of  God 90 

Apostasy  of  man,  its  effect 97,  137 

Albatross,  its  serenity  in  a  storm 160 

Apparel,  simplicity  of,  commended,  and  why 297 

Amusements  their  place 300 

public,  when  lawful 305 

B. 

Bible,  its  office  and  value 20,  48 

how  far  a  standard  of  faith  and  duty 24,  85,  174 

what  it  has  to  fear 28 

evidences  of  its  truth 30,  55 

antiquity  of  it , 32,  43 

condition  of  mankind  without  it 45,  48,  178 

its  meetness  for  human  wants 50 

means  of  salvation 52 

some  of  its  peculiarities 53 

perplexing  questions  respecting  it  answered 56 

moral  disqualifications  to  judge  of  it 64,  85 

acquaintance  with  it  a  preservation  from  error... 108 

what  it  reveals 180 

31*  366 


66  INDEX. 


PASX 


Bible,  the  only  supernatural  revelation 175 

must  be  received  or  rejected  as  a  whole 177 

(See  Scriptures.) 

Britt,  John,  his  case  illustrative 98 

Books,  rules  concerning  their  use 314 

instance  of  the  power  of  one 315 

vehicles  of  false  principles 319 

increased  danger  of,  in  our  day,  from  subtle  intro- 
duction of  error 320 

imprint  and  indorsement  no  safeguard 325 

false  maxim  respecting 327 

Benevolence,  divine,  displayed  in  the  restrictions  imposed 

by  religion 306 

C. 

Christianity,  its  proper  office 15 

its  claims 28 

extent  to  which  it  is  acknowledged,  and  why 

not  greater 57,  60 

first  requisite  to  its  reception 73 

its  leading  principles  command  common  con- 
sent     83 

profession  of,  under  what  obligation  it  places 

men 282 

an  active  principle 290 

a  permanent  principle 296 

its  limited  spread  no  disparagement  of  its 

claims ; 349 

its  triumphs 352 

agencies  for  its  propagation 357 

obstacles  to  it  receding 361 

(See  Profession  of  Religion.) 

Christ,  state  of  the  world  at  his  advent 37 

Church  organization,  central  power  for  good 354 

Cheerfulness  and  Christian  grace 280 

Convictions  of  duty  to  be  sacredly  obeyed 332 

Charity,  its  office,  how  fulfilled 340 

does  not  require  a  distinct  order 341 


INDEX.  367 


PAGE 


Conversion,  evidences  of,  various 19^ 

instance  of,  doubtful 200 

remarkable  instances  of  real 202,  211,  213 

how  favoured  or  hindered 219 

its  effect  on  natural  character 254 

Conflict  of  religious   opinions   no   impeachment   of    the    ' 
truth  of  Scripture 70 

Carey,  "William,  his  first  missionary  thought 205 

B. 

Duties,  domestic  and  social,  of  primary  importance 345 

private  and  personal,  of  the  young  professor  of 

religion 292 

Difficulties  in  religious  belief,  how  overcome 183 

Davy,  Sir  Humphry,  his  estimate  of  faith 115 

E. 
Errors  of  opinion  on  religion,  one  cause  of. 108 

F. 

Faith,  its  basis 22 

influence  of,  on  intellectual  character 95,  106 

its  empire,  where? 51,  189 

necessary  to  prepare  for  the  battle  of  life 113 

Forgiveness,  divine,  its  character 247 

a. 

Grod,  mistakes  about  his  attributes  and  government 73 

his  omniscience 79 

his  paternal  character  misunderstood 90 

knowledge  of  him  not  in  fallen  man 97 

fear  of,  a  certain  and  uniform  motive 110 

supreme  lawgiver  in  world  of  matter  and  mind  168,  170 

Gallaudet,  T.  H.,  his  conclusions  resjDecting  innate  ideas 

of  God 98 

Graces,  Christian,  enumerated 285 


368  INDEX. 

H.  PAOB 

Hope,  Christian,  what  is  evidence  of  its  being 230 

on  what  founded 233,  251,  260 

its  influence 252 

no  shadow 255 

scriptural,  its  characteristics 229 

I. 

Ignorance,  human,  how  great 63,  77 

of  the  Bible  admitted 93 

consequences  of. 108 

Intellectual  power,  how  affected  by  moral  causes...  61,  105,  109 

Idolatry,  madness  of. 63,  173 

Immortality,  proof  of,  from  analogy 46 

Inquiry,  freedom  of,  not  incompatible  with  deference  for 

received  opinions 334 

Interpretation  of  Scripture,  authoritative,  does  it  exist?...     26 
Impenitence,  its  penalty 234 

J. 

Jewish  Scriptures,  how  received 33 

how  authenticated 34 

Jews,  their  unbelief  unreasonable 42 

Judson,  Ann  H.,  Mrs.,  her  early  history 221 

K. 

Knowledge  of  God's  attributes  very  limited 77 

L. 
Literature,  light  and  cheap,  common  channel  of  corrupting 

sentiments 324 

Life,  a  gift  of  infinite  love 19 

how  to  make  the  most  of  it 118 

facts  of,  to  be  weighed 119 

its  end  differently  contemplated 120 

its  uses  and  abuses...  338 


INDEX.  369 

PASS 

Life,  its  great  aim 349 

Law  of  God,  no  safety  or  happiness  but  in  conforming 

to  it 55 

its  nature  and  claims 172 

its  office  in  conversion 240 

M. 

Man,  his  condition  and  relations 16,  103,  163,  191 

how  changed  in  conversion 245 

possible  condition  but  for  the  fall 102 

his  present  helplessness 104,  177,  193 

his  faculties  to  be  developed  in  harmony 106 

Moral  perception  perverted 16 

Mark,  how  to  make  one's,  on  the  present  generation 363 

Music,  cultivation  of,  limits 303 

M R ,  sudden  and  happy  death  of 257 

N. 

Natural  virtues  and  graces,  true  estimate  of 247 

"Not  a  ray  of  hope  yet'' 123 

Newspapers,  religious,  influence  of.., 313 

O. 

Omniscience,  its  incomprehensibleness.... 78 

Old  and  New  Testament,  both  true  or  neither 31,  176 

Old  age,  happy,  remarkable  instance  of. 114 

Ordinances,  outward,  their  true  office 283 

P. 

Private  judgment,  right  of. 26 

Peculiarities  of  the  sacred  volume.... 52-54 

Prayer  defined 135 

its  true  nature  and  design 145 

promptings  to 138,  144 

a  privilege 140 

scriptural  examj)les  of 141 

perseverance  in,  reasonable 142 


370  INDEX. 


PAOB 


Prayer  not  addressed  to  a  mythical  object 147 

what  is  indispensable  to  its  success 149 

its  reflex  influence 150 

success,  how  measured 153 

intercessory,  its  value 154 

social,  advantages  of. 157 

world's  united 159 

Propagating  Christianity,  methods  of. 343 

comparative     insignificance     of 

means 347 

Providence,  its  intricate  appointments 155,  166,  227 

Profession  of  religion,  what  it  is 263,  281 

what  it  implies 264,  282 

why  important 273 

false  excuses  for  not  making....  266,  276 

how  tested 268 

what  it  must  be .7 277 

objections  of  friends,  how  regarded   270 

when  to  be  made 274 

in  what  communion 277 

r  '     E. 

Religion  appeals  to  human  consciousness 187 

not  a  thing  of  sect  or  denomination 271 

its  supreme  obligation 272 

Revivals,  what  are  they? 228 

Regeneration,  its  necessity 193 

subject  of  consciousness 196 

in  what  sense  it  is  conversion .". 198 

evidences    of,    dijQPerent    in    diflferent    per- 
sons   198,  211,  213 

early,  desirable 218 

important  preliminary  question 261 

Religious  impressions,  early,  strength  of 100,  114 

of  uncertain  origin 84 

if  in  accordance  with  truth,  should 

be  carefully  cherished 332 


INDEX.  371 

Kehgious  impressions,  anecdote  illustrating  their  value....  335 
Eule  of  action,  a  wholesome  one,  stated  and  applied Ill 


S. 

Scriptures,  Holy,  knowledge  of  them,  superficial 30 

how  connected 39 

ancient  MSS.  of. 43 

necessity  of,  to  our  guidance 45 

to  social  improvement 48 

no  other  revelation  so  authenticated 49 

how  to  be  approached C7,  184 

a  revealer  of  mysteries 69 

mistakes  in  studying 86 

how  perverted 86 

(See  Bible.) 

Sin  the  source  of  all  sorrow  and  suffering 48 

consciousness  of  it  inevitable 18,  81 

its  true  nature  not  comprehended 87,  91,  244,  275 

its  havoc IO3 

separates  the  soul  from  God 1^ 

its  penalty 236 

Sunday-school,  young  Christian  in,  duties  of 339 

Singleness  of  purpose,  its  importance 342 

Sabbath,  how  and  why  to  be  kept  sacred 310 

its  sanctity  warranted  by  Scripture 311 


U. 

Universalism,  its  fallacy 84  89 

Unity  of  faith  more  general  than  is  supposed 82 


Words,  sound,  form  of,  should  be  scrupulously  preserved..  330 


372  INDEX. 


POETEY. 

PAOB 

That  clime  is  not  like  this  dull  clime  of  our's 130 

Tve  watched  the  sea-bird  calmly  glide 133 

There  is  an  eye  that  never  sleeps 139 

At  night  the  lonely  suppliant  prayed 14/ 

This  outward  life,  with  all  its  busy  forms 161 

How  sad  my  state  by  nature  is 186 

Sweet  were  the  bitterest  smart 246 

Holy  Saviour!  Friend  unseen  ! 256 

If  Christ  is  mine,  let  friends  forsake 258 

Count  each  affliction,  whether  light  or  grave 287 


THE   END. 


/ 


